RWBY Plus J
by Aloehisja
Summary: What if Jaune never asked Pyrrha to train him on the roof after Forever Fall? What could have changed with the knight choosing a different way to get stronger? And how would it have affected the events around him and his friends? (No confirmed pairings/ No harems/ Not so OOC but different character growth and perspectives)
1. Now What?

**AN: Hello readers. I'm not really new to fanfiction, but I thought I'd make a new account to separate some of the genres of my stories. I wont say who I am, but I'm sure those who have read my works might recognize or something.**

 **So I rewatched RWBY from S1 to the latest episode in S4, and I took note of a lot of what ifs. I wrote like six down, so that's what I'll be working on.**

 **But like the summary said, this is what I think would have happened if Jaune never asked Pyrrha to train him.**

 **I am Aloehisja, and I hope you enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and made by Monty Oum.**

 _'Thoughts'_

"Spoken"

 **Chapter 1:** Now What?

After the whole Forever Fall event, Jaune felt tired as he sat on the roof. He killed the Grimm, he stood up to his bully, and he did it for his friends. At least, he hopes they think of him as their friend with how badly he treated them. He repeatedly kicked himself mentally for that. Why didn't ask them for help?

' _I'm an Arc.'_ The words echoed in the deep parts of his conscience.

That's right. His stupid pride got in the way. He couldn't accept that he needed help and had brushed it off. What was it his dad had tried telling him a long time ago? It had something to do with being young and prideful. Raking through his memories, he remembered what had been told to him when he was just thirteen.

' _Son. Asking for help doesn't make you weak or stupid. It's not asking for help when you know you need it that makes you weak and stupid.'_

He was still young that time. He's still young now. But back then, he was blind only to their family name and the heroic history behind it. After today though, he could admit that he needed help.

"No Cardin tonight?" A sweet female voice surprised him out of his thoughts. Turning around he was greeted to his partner, Pyrrha Nikos.

"No." He said, turning fully to face her. _'And I don't think ever from now on.'_

After an awkward silence between the two, it was her that broke it. "Well, why don't we head in now? Ren made pancakes, but no syrup though. You can thank Nora for that."

It looked like she wanted to treat things like the days he had ignored them never happened. Make it seem like he never neglected them and just forget about it all. She may have wanted that. He could admit that he wanted it too. But he felt it wasn't the right course of action.

"Pyrrha." He called out to her. As she turned to him, he took a deep breath to steel his nerves. "I'm sorry for how I acted - for everything. Our team was concerned about me, and you were just trying to help me. And I lashed out at you. You didn't deserve that. None of you did."

For a few seconds, he couldn't look up from her shoes to see what her expression was. He still had a bit of pride in himself, but he quelled it down. If she chose not to accept his apology, he would accept it. With the way he had acted, her not accepting would have been what he deserved.

"You're forgiven." After she had said that, he felt an immense weight pulled off his chest. Looking up to her, he saw her smiling at him with nothing but sincere kindness. "I'm just happy you are alright now."

"Thanks Pyrrha." As he followed her to he door, he felt like asking her for help. "Um, Pyrrha?"

Just as his call out to her had came out of his mouth, so did his insecurities. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him not to ask her for help. Not because of stupid pride or machismo, but because of shame and guilt. She had offered to help him once in nothing but kindness and he had turned her away angrily. Asking her to train him just didn't feel right now.

"Yes?" She asked, halting in her steps as he had too. She took note of how uneasy he was acting once more, but decided not to push.

"…I'm just happy to be a part of the team." The blonde said, relaxing a tight grip he didn't know he was making.

"And is that all?" She egged on a bit while stepping closer, seeing traces of doubt in his eyes.

"I just wanna know one more thing." He gulped, wiping sweat on his forehead that was forming from nervousness. Seeing her motion for him to go on, he nodded. "I wanna know if we're still friends. You, me, and the team."

The smile on her face never left as she placed a hand on his shoulder. She could feel how tense he was and knew that this was important to him. It was important to her too.

"Of course we're still friends." She giggled, feeling his shoulders relax. "And not just me either. Ren and Nora were worried about you as well."

"Thanks Pyrrha." He sighed, taking her hand on his shoulder and squeezing it. "I'm glad we're still friends."

"If that's all, why don't we head down?" The champion said, motioning to the door.

"Uh, you go on ahead." He waved a hand. "I'll catch up later. Just need to go through my thoughts. It's been a day y'know."

"If you're sure." She said hesitantly, but giving him the space. "Take all the time you need. You know where we are."

"Thanks. And Pyrrha?" The blonde called out to her once more before she was completely gone. "Since we're friends I just want you to know – I'm socially awkward and I will make few… a lot of mistakes. And I'm going to change that. I'm going to do what I can, so if I do make a mistake I want you guys-"

"We'll stick by you." She finished for him, feeling they had gotten closer as he smiled at her words.

"Thanks." He smiled, turning away to sit on the edge. Hearing the door close behind him, he looked to the shattered moon with one thought in mind. "Now what?"

He slayed a Grimm today. A big Ursa to be exact. But he still could have done better. Thinking it over, he listed down all the things he needed work on. His strength was average, for a civilian anyways. His speed wasn't something to be proud of. His form was something Miss Goodwitch had told him needed work. He could take a hit, but not for long. And his stamina was something he needed work on too.

' _I have a lot of work ahead of me.'_ He groaned, seeing he was going to have to work from the ground up. Now that he had his physical evaluation out of the way, if he could call it that, it was time for his academic.

…He sucked. That's all he could think of his academics. Whenever it came to pop quizzes, he'd panic and write just about anything. It was a miracle he was barely passing at this point. To summarize - He was as far from being awesomesauce with a dash of kickass and a side order of win.

Thinking things over, he thought of the people he knew that could help him out. His team was obviously out. He was glad they were still friends, but he felt he didn't deserve to ask them. CRDL came to mind, but that was like stepping on a landmine again after narrowly escaping it the first time. He could go to the teachers, but he feared the question of his transcripts coming up. That only left one team he was friends with. Sort of friends with – like half of them. Maybe three.

Yes, he would ask team RWBY for help. Now that he thought about it, each of them could help him in all his weak parts. Yang was strong, Ruby was fast, Weiss was amazing, and Blake was…

"Huh." He scratched his chin. "What do I know about Blake?"

He'd get around to it later. Seeing how late it was, he decided to ask them early in the morning. For now, he'd get some pancakes with his team.

 **Room JNPR**

"Nora, no." Ren scolded his partner as he saw her slowly inching to a plate of pancakes. "You had yours. Those are Jaune's."

"Aaaaaw." She pouted, lip quivering as she eyed the delicious tower with shimmering eyes. "But Ren, she's calling to me. Eat me. Let me inside you. Enjoy my taste in your mouth!"

"You had your fill." He refused her. "I made more for you than I did for the three of us combined."

"But it wasn't enough." The ginger pushed on, slowly reaching a hand out to grab just one. "And they're getting cold. How can Jaune enjoy cold pancakes?"

"Nora." The ninja of JNPR warned her, raising his spatula to swat her hand if it got any closer to the pancakes.

Pyrrha was watching the whole ordeal with shoulders shaking in silent laughter. It was amazing how the two got on so well. They were so different, but they stuck together in pure friendship. If she were to be honest, she was jealous. She wished she could have the sort of relationship they had with just about anyone.

Maybe that's why she chose to secure Jaune as her partner. He was a person that didn't recognize her or fawned over her fame. He was a bit put down after Weiss listed all her accomplishments, but he didn't seem the character to just give up like that.

Then again, she did also choose him so she wouldn't be paired up with Weiss. Call her whatever you wanted, but she didn't feel comfortable being paired with Weiss at the time. Her initial plan to recruit her wasn't so subtle – neither was that devious face she had made when the heiress thought she wasn't looking. Either way, she chose Jaune and she didn't regret it.

Hearing the door rattle a bit, the three in the room quieted down as they heard grumbling and a heavy sigh before there was a knocking of three times. Nora, wanting a distraction away from the delicacies on the plate, had gone to answer it.

"Who's there?" She asked after the knocking.

"It's me." Jaune's voice muffled on the other side.

"Me who?" She sang, giggling at her chance for a knock-knock joke. Pyrrha covered her mouth to stop herself from giggling at the display.

"Its-" Before Jaune could answer; he was interrupted by a surprise behind him.

BAM!

"It's me, _two_!" The three heard a female voice say at the door. They knew who it was by that joke: Yang.

"Yang, what're you doing?" Jaune's muffled voice asked the buxom blonde.

"I heard an opportune chance of a knock-knock joke." They heard her say. "No way I was going to let it go."

The three in the room could just imagine how it was going in the hall. From the sounds of things, the rest of Team RWBY had gotten involved. They couldn't clearly hear what the other three were saying, but they could make out some of the voices.

"Yes, Ruby. I forgot my scroll in the room again." Jaune's voice admitted to his fault. "By the way, since you guys are here I wanted to ask you all something."

None in JNPR's room were able to here what Jaune had been saying next. But from the sounds of things, the Schnee was making a fuss of things while Ruby cheered and Yang laughed. After a few more minutes, Jaune had called for Nora to open the door.

"If I let you in, can I have your pancakes?" Nora asked sweetly, eyeing the pancakes and then Ren's stern glare. "What? It's a fair trade."

Rolling his eyes at his friend's antics, he walked over to open the door to see Jaune waiting in front of the door with Yang next to him. The rest of Yang's team stayed inside their room, but their door was wide open, showing their bunkbeds of death. The ninja thinks them as such because of how crudely they were put together. Thank goodness all he and Pyrrha had talked Nora out of making theirs the same way.

"Come on in Jaune." He called his leader in. "Your pancakes are getting cold."

After walking into the room, the blonde scanned for any signs of pancakes only to find none. "So, where are the pancakes?"

"They're right over-" Just as Ren followed his finger to where it was pointing; he saw the pancakes were not where he had left them. And he knew who had taken them by how huddled she was in a corner. "Nora!"

"What?" She said with mouth stuffed. "I didn't do it."

As he marched over to scold her, Jaune laughed silently at the scene before walking over to his bed next to his partners. Giving her a glance, he nodded in acknowledgement after their eyes had met.

"So how are you feeling?" The redhead asked after a few seconds of silence between the two. "Were you able to sort out your thoughts?"

"Yeah." He nodded, laying down and enjoying the sheets. "I thought things over, and I think everything's going to be ok. We're all going to be ok now."

"That's good to hear." She smiled, reaching over to lightly punch his shoulder. "It's good to have you back with us, Jaune."

"Good to be back Pyr." He smiled, closing his eyes to get some early rest. He'd need it for what came tomorrow. Things were going to be different.

If he had kept them open, he would have seen her eyes widen at the nickname he had given her. The champion had noticed that Nora would usually call Ren by his name or 'Renny' whenever she was in a very good mood. For the time she and Jaune were together, he had always called her by her full name. This was the first time he'd called her anything else. Maybe they were going to be better than ok.

 **END**

 **AN: So that's chapter one. It's been a while since I was an insecure teen. Now that I'm writing of teenagers trying to grow up and change for the better, there's a bit of nostalgia in there somewhere.**

 **I think this idea came out after I watched The Butterfly Effect. Small changes creating big effects in some way. Like Jaune's insecure mind and guilt popping out in the wrong time.**

 **I hope I'm still keeping him as insecure and awkward as possible. Team JNPR doesn't appear that much until 3 and 4, so I'm winging it on them in some way.**

 **Some parts will have canon, some will change. And I know it's the first chapter and all, I had to make this omake after I reread the pages for grammar. It was too good to pass up.**

 **Jaune's past answers to Oobleck's Pop Quiz:**

1\. Where did the faunus-human war take place? A: In a battlefield

2\. What was the reason for General Lagune's defeat? A: Stupidity

3\. Complete this phrase: Those who fail to learn from history _. A: Fail this class.

4\. Why do faunus face discrimination? A: Because they're brave not to run from it.

 **Bonus:** How do you think discrimination came about? A: From discriminators.

 **Comments:**

1\. Correct in a way, but be more specific Mr. Arc.

2\. Technically not wrong, but should have been worded better.

3\. This falls both in you and Mr. Winchester's case Mr. Arc.

4\. I'm glad you view faunus as so, but pay attention in class.

 **Bonus:** See me after class Mr. Arc.

 **Jaune's past answers to Port's Pop quiz:**

1\. Tell me a well-proven way to kill an Ursa. A: Hit it 'til it dies.

2\. How does one survive in the badlands? A: Get good.

3\. Name a good contingency plan to insubordination. A: Boot to the head.

4\. This Grimm has been known to have surveillance abilities. A: Squishy.

 **Comments:**

1\. I can let this pass since it technically is a proven way.

2\. I have no response to this.

3\. New, but I'll give this a point for originality.

4\. Mr. Arc, I know it looks cute but it shouldn't be named such.

 **AN: I'll admit, I've used a few of these too in quizzes that didn't really matter. I'm a fan of history, but I just hate how textbooks write it sometimes. Some give both viewpoints while others just put in the winning or losing side's perspective.**


	2. First Step

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and made by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Aloehisja here with another update. I'm planning on taking this story all the way up to Vol. 4. Like I said, some things will change while other things will be inevitable.**

 **That's enough of the author notes. Let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 2:** First Step

" _I am tired of being the idiot stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! If I cant do this on my own… Then what good am I?"_

Jaune woke with a jolt after that dream. It had only been yesterday since he patched things up with his team. If they could let it go, then so could he. Things were going to be different – he could just feel it. Seeing as everyone was still asleep and he couldn't fall asleep himself, he decided to get ready early by taking the first shower.

Today was his first day getting help from Team RWBY in improving himself to be the person he wanted to be. Well, more of three-fourths of Team RWBY. The heiress hadn't agreed to help him even with the help of Ruby and Yang. He at least got Blake on his side though. It was very convenient how they were there last night as he was going to his dorm.

 _Flashback_

" _I was hoping you guys would help me train." He said in a low voice._

" _You mean like in fighting and stuff, right?" Yang elbowed him lightly after sharing a glance with her team._

" _Sort of like everything." The blonde knight said sheepishly. Getting raised brows from them, he thought to explain. "I know I'm not the best at anything and I feel like I'm holding my team back. So I wanna get better, but I need help."_

" _Why not go ask your team then?" Weiss asked, surprisingly not using a cold tone with him._

 _She sounded slightly interested and a bit concerned. In any other situation, Jaune would have taken this chance to play his luck with her. But at the moment, getting her to help him was far more important than letting his hormones play out._

" _I cant." He told her, quashing the feeling in his chest. "I had a talk with Pyrrha and apologized for my behavior in the past days. She said her and the team forgave me and that we're still friends, but I cant ask them to help me after treating them like that. It doesn't feel right."_

" _Well I'll help you out Jaune." Ruby said, walking to stand by him. "Us leaders need to stick together."_

" _Count me in." Yang patted him on the shoulder and staring at her partner who was still on her bed. "How 'bout it Blake? Wanna help Vomit-Boy turn into Captain Atlas?"_

" _I'm actually from Ansel." Jaune muttered under his breath, but was ignored._

 _Seeing the two sisters giving her shining eyes and Jaune looking down timidly, she rolled her eyes but relented. "Yeah. Whatever."_

" _And Blake's onboard." Yang pumped a fist in the air. "Looks like Ice Queen is the odd one out."_

 _The look on the Schnee's face was calculative as she tried to think of her pros and cons. On one hand, she could show off she turned an incompetent dunce into a respectable student. Then again, it was Jaune she would be teaching - the same idiot who tried to flirt with her and couldn't get a clue._

" _I don't see what I'd get out of teaching this dunce." She huffed, eyeing the blonde knight with a small glare. "Besides, you already have three people helping you. They should be more than enough to train you."_

" _I also need help in academics." He pointed out, getting an eye roll from her._

" _Of course you do." The heiress said, knowing he did. "Be that as it may, my answer is still no."_

" _Come on Weiss." Ruby egged her. "Don't be so mean."_

" _Yeah, come on Ice Queen." Yang said with disappointed frown. "It's not like he's asking for a date - just a helping hand. …You're not planning on asking any of us on a date, are you?"_

" _I wasn't thinking that until you said it." Seeing Yang narrowing her eyes, he quickly added to his statement. "But I'm not asking any of you out! I just wanted help."_

" _See?" The older sister patted Jaune's shoulder two times. "Just help. Nothing else."_

" _And my answer is still no." Weiss rejected once more, walking back into the room._

" _But Weiss-" As Ruby went to push more, Jaune placed a hand on her shoulder._

" _It's okay Ruby." The blonde stopped her, turning to Weiss with a sad smile. "She's probably got her own things to do. I wasn't really sure any of you would have agreed anyways."_

" _Well you got us plus Blake." Yang pointed a thumb at her. "We'll help to train you up, but don't think we'll go easy on you."_

" _I'm gonna try my best too." Jaune said with conviction in his voice. "I'm taking this serious."_

" _That's what I wanted to hear." The other blonde grinned, liking the confidence he was showing._

 _End Flashback_

He was glad he did get help, but he couldn't understand why Weiss had to be so cold to him. He'll admit that his attempts at flirting with her weren't the best, but was it really something to give him nearly scathing glares? He's also noticed she talks to him more with snark in her tone. He's tried ignoring them at first, but there's so much a guy can take before it starts hurting.

After brushing his teeth and taking a quick shower, he stared into the mirror to check his reflection. Maybe Weiss didn't like him because of how he looked. He can admit he wasn't the best looking guy around. There wasn't even that much going for him as he looked down at his body and seeing lack of muscles. Sighing in disappointment at his build, he looked back at his reflection and noticed he was glaring at himself.

" _Don't ever mess with my team- my friends – ever again. Got it?"_

' _Why cant I be like that all the time?'_ He mused as he toweled off. _'Forget it Jaune. Today is a start of a new you. We're going to work our way up. Not just for you, but for our friends. Right.'_

After getting his confidence high for the morning, he walked out of the bathroom to see Pyrrha waiting in her pajamas and a towel in hand. It was surprising how she wasn't that much of a morning person despite how she looked. He never noticed before, but she looked good even without her makeup on.

"Morning Pyr." He greeted her, getting a grumbled good morning in return. Stepping aside to let her walk in, he smiled watching her trudge in with eyes still closed. "Enjoy your bath. I made sure to save some hot water."

"Thrnk yuu Jaune." She mumbled, closing the door after yawning.

After getting his clothes on for class, he looked over to see Nora and Ren still asleep. He's learnt by now to just let Nora handle waking the silent guy up. If it was anyone else, he'd just brush them off if it wasn't that important. Hearing the shower head go off, he could guess his partner was awake by now.

"I'm going on ahead to the cafeteria." He knocked on the bathroom door to inform his partner. "I'll save you guys a seat."

"Thanks Jaune." The redhead said in a far better mood.

Nodding his head, the leader of Team JNPR walked out to see Blake on her way to the mess hall as well.

He didn't know that much about Blake Belladonna besides her name and team. The most he knew was that she liked books. The first time he saw her, he thought she was arrogant and a snob by how she acted to Weiss and left Ruby on her own on their first day in Beacon. It followed when he spotted her ignoring the little leader when they were sleeping in the auditorium before initiation.

But then they all met up and fought a Deathstalker and the Nevermore. She was a team player. There was also the time he spotted her cheering for Weiss on their first day of class – and even he knew she didn't think that highly of her.

By then his opinion of her had changed immensely. She may be quiet and distant, but she is a nice person and does care for her team. Her agreeing to help him train is another proof she's nice and a friend. Jogging up to her, he thought of trying to get a bit closer and try to know her a bit better. If they were going to spend time to train, then it'd be less awkward if they were on friendlier terms than what they were now.

"Morning Blake." He greeted her as he caught up.

Instead of getting one back, she just glanced at him and nodded. Jaune thought getting to know her would be a bit harder.

"So, you're heading to the cafeteria too, right?" He tried to strike a conversation. Getting a hum in affirmation, he nodded in return. "You wanna share a table? We can hold it for our teams."

"Alright." Somehow this was almost like talking to a female Ren. Then again, from Jaune's rare talks with the boy, he's said more than two words at least and made a complete sentence.

 **Cafeteria**

There was an awkward silence for the leader of JNPR as he sat across from Blake. They chose not to order and decided to wait for their teams. Or more like he suggested waiting for their tems before they ate and Blake just nodding and picking a spot to sit in.

So here they were. Alone together. In complete silence. With the only sounds being Blake's book whenever she'd turn a page. If Jaune listened closely, he'd swear he could hear the Blake's eyes moving as she read her book.

' _My onesie for a conversation right now.'_ He sighed, getting bored waiting for their team. Eyes darting around to find something to entertain him, they landed on Blake's book. _'Ninjas of Love. Huh, never heard of it.'_

"Anything on your mind, Jaune?" Blake couldn't read in peace with the blonde's eyes on her book. With how intently he was staring at it, she felt uncomfortable reading it now. _'Don't tell me he knows what it is.'_

"Just curious about the book you're reading." He admitted, straightening up with a sheepish grin at getting caught. "Ninjas, huh? Yeah, they're cool."

"Is that all?" She asked, knowing he wouldn't be going away soon.

"Um, well, I was thinking." He sputtered, making her feel a bit aggravated with his unease. "Since you said you'd be helping me and all, maybe we could get to know each other better. Y'know? So it wouldn't feel so awkward?"

The faunus in hiding couldn't disagree with him on that. The only reason she wasn't talking with him now was because they barely knew one another besides their names. And if they were going to spend time together, even if it was to help him it would be nice to know they were on a friendly basis. Tucking her book away, she gave him a short nod before speaking.

"Okay, then." For some reason, his smile was a bit infectious as she felt herself giving a small grin in return. "So what do you want to know?"

"Anything you're comfortable sharing." The blonde suggested, happy she was willing to open up a bit. "Like what are your favorite books or stuff. I'm kind of new at this stuff too, so bare with me."

"I guess I could tell you about my favorite books." She said, trying to give him a chance. "I like The Man With Two Souls. I'm just finishing it up before I go to The Man with Two Souls Two."

"The Man with Two Souls …Two?" He asked, getting a nod in return. "So it's like he has four souls?"

She giggled at his way of summing it up. He was awkward, but it was the nice kind with good intentions. Maybe Ruby was right about him when she asked about him the other night.

 _Flashback_

" _Ruby?" Blake called to her leader, who was busy writing some notes down._

 _Some were for class, but there was a small list with the title 'Jaune's Training List' on the side. Yang had taken it a few times and added her own ideas to help their friend out. The blonde was playing a game on her scroll, but whenever Ruby would throw the list at her, she'd pause the game to look it over before adding or erasing some parts._

 _Blake was doing a list of her own too, but she didn't know what to write besides helping him with his studies. Overall, she thought that was al he'd help him on. Weiss had decided to stay out of what they were doing and was busy reviewing her own notes._

" _Yeah Blake?" The younger girl replied, turning away from her work._

" _I barely know anything about Jaune. Do you think you can tell me a bit about him?" She asked, waving her paper for emphasis._

" _Well, he's a nice guy." She started, listing it on her finger. "Kind of awkward, so I guess that's why we get along. He's also funny, in his own way. Um…"_

" _He's dorky. Can't forget that." Yang piped in from her side of the bunk bed. "Another reason why and him get along sis."_

" _Hey." She warned in a teasing manner. "So yeah, he can be a bit all that, but his intentions are always good. He's easy to get along with."_

" _Speak for yourself." Weiss whispered, going unheard by the sisters except Blake._

" _Is that it?" The bow wearing girl asked, not getting much except knowing he was good guy._

" _Um, no." Her leader said, her voice sounding a bit sad. "I know we called him all that stuff, but I don't think that's the real him. Or maybe it's not the him he wants to be."_

" _This is news to me too, sis." The buxom blonde said, getting out of her bed to sit closer to her sister. "What brought that on?"_

" _Forever Fall." The young leader said, getting a nod from them. Seeing them eyeing her to continue, she did so. "So Jaune killed a Grimm and saved Cardin. We all know that. But then he goes to Cardin and acts …um not like Jaune."_

" _Oh for- He was confident and stern." Weiss piped in, correcting her leader in wording it better. "The dunce had a backbone the whole time and used it to get the brute off his back. Just because he did it once doesn't mean anything at all."_

" _Well he was a little cool doing it." Ruby defended her first friend. Hearing a gasp from her sister, she turned to see her smiling with hands on her cheeks. "What?"_

" _You have a crush on Jaune!" The blonde brawler nearly shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at her sister._

 _It got a reaction out of the other two as they snapped their attention to their leader. The girl now in the spot light was changing colors to match the hue of her hood._

" _What?" She shook her head while trying to look at all of them. "I don't. I really don't."_

" _My baby sis is growing up." Yang squealed, gushing over her sister. "You could have done better, but it matces."_

 _Tuning the two sisters out, Blake went back to her list before she would return to reading. Tapping the pen to her bottom lip, she added one more thing below studying._

 _End Flashback_

"Your turn." She pointed out to him.

"I like reading too." He shared, getting a raised brow in return. "Okay, so not textbooks or school stuff – but I like reading some novels. Even some visual novels too."

"Can you name a few?" Blake asked, wanting to know if he was being truthful.

"Okay." He nodded, putting a hand out to list them. "There's Metal Gear series, both graphic and written, Assassin's Creed, also the graphic and written versions, and Fable."

"Aren't those video games?" She asked, knowing a few people in her past that played those games.

"They have novels too." He defended his list. "Granted I've never played the games myself, but the stories were entertaining. …By the way, is Ninja's of Love any good? I might try-"

"It's not for you." She shot him down in a slightly panicked tone.

"But I-"

"Its not. For you." She ground out, leaning in to let him know to drop it.

"I'll take your word for it then." He sweated slightly under the heavy glare she was sending him.

"Good." She said, returning back to her usual self. "Since it's my turn. …I like to eat sushi. Or just fish in general."

"I'm not a fan of eating a lot, so I haven't thought on my favorite food." He rubbed his chin. "But if I had to pick I'd say my favorite-"

BAM!

"Doesn't matter Vomit-Boy, because your training starts now." Yang interrupted the two's bonding time while placing a tray of food in front of Jaune and another in front of her.

Looking at what Yang brought her, Jaune doubted he could finish it all. There was bacon, eggs, turkey breasts, some leaves, and a big hunk of cottage cheese. Turning to the others, he saw that they had a moderate size that wasn't what Yang dropped in front of him.

"You're going to train me to eat?" He asked the buxom blonde, getting a laugh in return.

"Nope." She said, taking a bacon and biting it. "As of now, I'm your trainer in hand to hand and your dietitian. And as your dietitian, I say you're way too scraggly for your height."

Turning to Ruby, the blonde saw her giving him a thumbs up in support before turning away quickly. He didn't know why, but her cheeks seemed a bit rosier than they usually were. And Weiss refused to look his way.

"Did you guys make like a schedule, or something?" He asked, hoping to stall for some time. He was happy to know his strategy worked as Ruby perked up to rummage in her bag.

"We did." His fellow leader said, shoving a paper in his face. "We all agreed I was best in teaching you a thing or two about speed while you help me on strategies, Yang's told you what she's doing, and Blake agreed to help you in your studies and sword fighting."

"So when do I meet up with you guys for these things?" He asked, looking over the list. It worked well since it covered most of what he needed help on.

"…" Ruby froze along with Blake and Yang at the question. The three had been thinking of the 'what's and who, they forgot about the when and what time. "We're still working that out, but if you need help studying, just ask."

"And don't worry about the dieting." Yang clapped him on the back. "We all share breakfast and lunch everyday, so this is already scheduled. So eat up, Jaune."

"I don't think I can even finish this all." Jaune gulped, looking at all the meat in front of him.

"Don't be intimidated by the amount." She elbowed him lightly. "It's a lot lighter than you think."

"Okay, then." Feeling hungry anyways, Jaune started off with the bacon and eggs and worked his way to the turkey and the leaves. But the time he was on the first breast, his team had arrived with their trays in hand.

"Morning." Nora greeted everyone with a tower of pancake on her tray. As she and the others of JNPR sat down with Pyrrha next to Jaune, she spied his plate and thought to comment on it. "Wow, fearless leader. You're really eating up today, aren't ya."

"It's nice to see you eating healthier Jaune." His partner said, taking a piece of her breakfast into her mouth.

"Yeah, you usually ate like so little we thought you were on a diet." The ginger said, eyeing Yang after saying diet. It didn't go unnoticed by the busty girl.

"You trying to say something Nora?" The brawler narrowed her eyes. The ginger's response was to puff her cheeks out while not making eye contact.

As the two powerhouses got into a small bout, Jaune was eyeing some sort of green drink on Ren's tray. Putting his veggie wrapped turkey breast down, he thought to ask his teammate on it.

"Ren?" He said, getting his friend's attention. "What is that?"

"I see you've noticed my energy drink." The ninja said, holding the cup out to display. "It's a concoction of mine that's filled with all the important vitamins and minerals the body needs."

"Ooh. Let me try." Nora grabbed the cup out of his hands and had chugged half of it down before her eyes widened in pure regret and horror.

Slamming the cup down, she held covered her mouth with cheeks more puffed up than before while frantically jogging in place. As her teary eyes searched around, she spotted the trashcan and had ran over to puke out the contents. Weiss was unlucky to be close and had lost her appetite just from the sounds alone.

"Blegh! Nasty." Nora shuddered after returning to the table. "What's in that stuff? Algae from the fountain?"

"Nonsense." Ren closed his eyes in denial. "There is no algae in this."

After taking a sip and swallowing, he eyed his cup with a look. "Maybe there is a bit of algae in here."

"I'll stick to the turkey and leaves." The last thing Jaune needed was for Yang's nickname for him to be shown.

"Pyrrha?" Ren held his cup to her.

"I'm happy with my diet. Thank you, Ren." She laughed nervously, eating her food a bit faster.

' _I am a man ahead of my time.'_ He sighed, taking another sip of his concoction. _'Someday they'll appreciate it.'_

 **Oobleck's Class**

After breakfast, the teams made it to Port's class before attendance had been taken. And as usual, nearly everyone was either half asleep or doing something else besides listening to Port's tales. This time, it was about a Boarbatusk he had wrestled in the snowy plains of Atlas. Nothing eventful had happened besides Port finding Nora asleep.

Now in Oobleck's class though, Jaune was doing all he could to try and keep up with the teacher. Currently they were talking about politics and the powers it held in Remnant. By the time they had twenty minutes left, Oobleck had surprised them with a pop quiz much to their ire.

"Not to worry." He said to ease them. "It's just a simple question that anyone can answer. Name a characteristic of politics. It can be one sentence or more. You only have five minutes to do this, so quickly now."

As everyone scrambled to write something down, Jaune panicked as usual whenever it came to pop quizzes. As everyone had finished, he was the only one raking his mind for anything he could remember.

"One minute before all papers in." Oobleck announced, making Jaune panic more.

Not wanting to hand a blank sheet in, Jaune wrote the first thing that came to mind and quickly handed it to Pyrrha to pass over. She must have seen his crestfallen face as she gave him a comforting smile and a hand on his arm. After the papers wee handed to the professor, he had skimmed over them while giving some short comments.

"Textbook… basic… Improving Mr. Winchester… Excellent as always Ms. Schnee." Weiss preened at the comment. "Very idealistic Ms. Rose… Yes… Mhmm… Oh."

That last one had caught the class' attention. It was the first they heard the prof say something slowly. Looking up from the papers in his hand, he scanned the room until it had landed on Jaune.

"Mr. Arc." He said slowly, taking his paper out. "Would you mind coming down here and reading your paper to the class?"

This was new to all of them. Oobleck never told anyone to come up to the class. He'd usually ask for them to stay behind to have a word with them. Not wanting to get in any more trouble, Jaune had gotten up to read whatever he had written.

"Not to worry Mr. Arc. You aren't in trouble." The teacher informed him, noticing his student's posture. "What you wrote just gives an opportune moment for the lesson today. Something I failed to discuss."

"O-okay." The blonde stuttered, looking at his paper. "Politics can turn today's friends into tomorrow's opponent."

' _Wait, isn't this from my novels?'_ The blonde thought, remembering the quote differently.

"Thank you Mr. Arc. You may take your seat once more." Turning to the clock, Oobleck saw he had just enough time to share with the class. "As you have heard, what Mr. Arc has said is true. Politics is a very delicate matter that can cause friendships to crumble. This reason being on beliefs and nationalities."

"But if people are friends, why would they let something like politics separate them?" Ruby asked with her hand raised.

"Excellent question Ms. Rose." He nodded. "This would be best answered with a scenario with you and your partner. Ms. Schnee is from Atlas and you are from…?"

"Patch, sir." She answered.

"An extension to Vale." He continued. "With politics, there comes arguments, and with arguments of higher powers, there is war. Hypothetically, let us say Vale and Atlas go to war against one another because of different beliefs. You strongly believe in Vale and Weiss is the same for Atlas."

"But just because we don't agree doesn't mean we should fight." The prodigy argued, turning to her partner who shook her head.

"Ruby, if Vale calls you to fight in a war, you have to answer to it just like how I have to do the same for Atlas." Weiss informed her. "Even if we don't want to fight one another, by law we'd be labeled as enemies because of where we live."

"That doesn't make sense." She whispered, not liking the idea.

"It never does, Ms. Rose." Oobleck sighed sadly, taking his glasses off. "Hunters and Huntresses may be able to do extraordinary things for the greater good. But when people of higher status and standing come into play for control for their interest, we become-"

B-r-r-r-r-r-ing

Just as Oobleck was about to tell them, the bell had rung and interrupted him.

"Oh. Erhm." The professor snapped out of his mood and put his glasses on. "Yes. That's all for today. Read up on Vale's Constitution and compare it with Mistral's. Be sure to list the similarities and such."

As the students got out to head for lunch, the teacher read through the other papers and mentally commented on them. Out of all the papers, only two talked of the negatives of politics rather than their strong points. Mr. Arc's and Ms. Belladonna's.

' _Politics can turn today's friends into tomorror's opponents. – J. Arc'_

' _There is no relation between morals and politics. – B. Belladonna'_

"Interesting bunch this year." The green haired teacher mused, separating the two papers from the rest. He'd be using them as part of next lesson's topic.

 **Cafeteria**

"Ruby, for the last time." Weiss groaned as her leader continued to badger her. "What he said was hypothetical. Vale and Atlas aren't going to war."

"True, but there is no denying their relations being strained." Ren noted, getting an eye roll from the heiress.

"Can we just drop it?" Yang asked, getting tired of the subject. "I mean we're hunters in training, not government workers or politicians. We kill Grimm, save lives, and kick ass – that's us."

"Not all problems are solved with just punching." The Schnee told her teammate. "Even Hunters and Huntresses need to use a diplomatic approach rather than doing shake downs."

That was something her sister had told her whenever she had visited. From some of the stories Weiss had heard from Winter, civilians weren't so kind with Hunters and Huntresses as the media put them out to be.

' _Nobody panics when things go according to plan. But put one mistake, even a small one, and they lose their minds.'_

Weiss never understood what she meant when she was told so at ten. Her sister was always the person she looked up to the most. Not her father, or her mom, nor any of the family 'friends' that came to talk. Winter had been the one to open her eyes to being a Huntress. And all those stories and lessons she had told her became clear after she had tried to apply for Atlas Academy like her. She saw her father lose his mind, as her wanting to be a Huntress was not part of _his_ plan.

Daddy dearest refused to have her attend despite how strongly she felt on going. So she turned to Beacon. She tried to negotiate with him and had found he wasn't as fair as she thought he was. It was obvious he was trying to scare out of the idea with all the boundaries and challenges he had set up - but she held strong and got her way.

Looking over to the blonde dork, she saw he was trying to finish the diet Yang had put him on. She didn't know why, but just looking at him annoyed her. Many have tried courting her because of her name, but the dunce was something else.

' _How can a dunce be so underwhelming and weak, yet continue to smile?'_ She thought, watching him try to get the last bit of meat on his plate.

"Are you sure you should have eaten so much before Combat Class, Jaune?" Ren asked his leader in concern.

"It's fine, Ren." Jaune smiled, reassuring his teammate. "The chances of Goodwitch calling me aren't that high since I was called two days ago."

"If you're sure." He replied, letting his leader do his own thing.

 **Combat Class**

' _Why?'_ Jaune groaned internally as he was called to the ring. He had to jinx it by thinking he wouldn't be called. _'Curse you Murphy and your laws.'_

After putting his armor on and strapping his weapon to his waist, Jaune walked out to meet his opponent, Dove Bronzewing. Compared to Cardin, the guy wasn't as tall, but he did have muscles close to his leader. Cardin may have been the leader, but everyone knew it was Dove that was the strongest of Team CRDL. And remembering from his days being bullied by the team, Dove was also smart.

"Ready." Goodwitch called to them, turning the monitors on to show their aura levels. "Begin."

 **Up in the stands**

The three members of Team RWBY who agreed to help train Jaune watched closely on their friend's performance. They knew he hasn't one a single fight against anyone, but now they were watching to see where they could help him in his mistakes.

The first thing they had noticed was that he was quick to hide behind his shield at the very beginning. Blake took note of how close he held it to his chest instead of keeping it lengths away. He was taking away half his vision doing that.

Yang pursed her lips seeing him standing in one place as Dove circled him. She gets that Jaune wanted to play things defensively, but he was making himself a sitting duck the way he was going. Even his footwork was a bit off with how flat footed he was turning.

Ruby couldn't find anything positive about her friend's stance either. He was looking so stiff and wound up, she could guarantee he wouldn't be able to move out of the way of any attack. She knew he had power in his swings from past observations, but they only mattered if they could connect.

After six minutes in, Jaune's aura had dived into the red. He fought well against his opponent and had at least gotten Dove's aura into the yellow. They saw him strategize to get the hits in, but he had to sacrifice getting hit to do so. Sharing a look, they each knew what they would be doing with him.

Taking her scroll out, Ruby decided to text Jaune with the two girls hovering over her shoulder.

 **Locker Room**

As Jaune finished putting his stuff away, he got a text from Ruby.

Ruby: _We looked over your fight and got an idea of how to help you. We'll text you when we're free._

 _BTW. Blake says to meet her in the library after to help you with your studied if you're free._

Nodding at the message, he sent back a short thanks and confirmation he'd be meeting Blake. Putting his scroll away, he noticed Dove still in the room staring at him.

"Um, good match." The blonde told his classmate, getting a nod in return.

"You too." The light brown haired teen said, walking out with eyes still closed.

Jaune wondered how the guy was able to see. On that note, how was Port able to see? Shaking his head of the question, he got up to meet up with his team who was waiting for him outside.

"You did well Jaune." Pyrrha praised him. Before he could say anything, she had pushed on. "You didn't win, but you were able to last longer and managed to get your opponent into the yellow. It's an improvement."

"Thanks Pyr. That means a lot." He smiled, feeling some of the disappointment in him quell.

"You might want to hold your shield a bit further out next time though." The champion advised him while holding her arm out for example. "You'd have a better field of vision and would absorb less of the impact that way."

"Noted." He smiled, happy for the advice. "I think I'll try that in the next training exercise."

"Always happy to help." She smiled, seeing him take the advice sincerely.

 **Library**

 **Late noon**

Jaune suppressed a yawn as he was forced to read the textbook. He had finished the assignment, but he was told by Blake to read the book. She was very clear on how strong she told him to do it too.

 _Flashback_

" _Since Oobleck gave us an assignment, I thought we'd work on it together." Blake explained, sitting at a table and waving to a chair next to her. "Once you're done, just pass it to me and I'll compare it to mine."_

" _That sounds good." The blonde nodded, sitting next to her and opening up the two books._

 _ **Five minutes later**_

" _Done." Jaune smiled, surprising Blake out of her reading._

 _Taking his paper, she read through it and saw everything was in order. She was a bit disturbed how quickly he had finished, so she thought to try and test him. "Jaune, what does section 8 of vale state?"_

" _Um…" That confirmed it for her._

" _Did you even_ read _any of this?" She asked, giving his paper back._

" _I skimmed it." He said, making her furrow her brows._

" _Is that how you've been reading your textbooks?" Blake asked, sounding like the mother who caught the toddler's hand in the cookie jar._

" _Yeah." He said, ashamed by her tone._

 _She connected the dots and saw why he was failing his classes. Taking the book, she slid it in front of him and pointed at the page. "Read it."_

" _Okay." He sighed, looking to the paper and scanning over the key words._

 _Blake must have seen him do so because she lifted his head to stare at her. He always thought her amber eyes were nice, but now they were scary by how they were glaring at him._

" _I said." She said coldly. "Read. It."_

 _Nodding stiffly, he turned back to the book and started reading the pages word for word._

 _End Flashback_

As Jaune continued to read, Blake took this time to study him after she had finished her work. He was bored if the way his eyes were turning half lidded said anything. Still staring at him, the past night's talk of her leader having a possible crush on him reared up out of nowhere. Honestly, she didn't see what was wrong with him. It's not that he was ugly or disgusting. In terms of personality, the way he carried himself was cringe worthy at most. She was there in the lockers during initiation when he put on that false bravado. She was thankful he wasn't actually like that, otherwise this situation would have been entirely different.

Although, if what Ruby said about seeing his real confident side was true, it must be something impressive if it got Cardin of all people to leave him and his friends alone. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious to see that side of him. During his fight today, she saw a small glimpse of it before he looked hesitant. Would she and her friends helping bring out that side of him?

"It's getting pretty late, Blake." The blonde commented, looking at the clock.

"What?" She said, snapping out of her thoughts. Turning to the clock, she saw that it was getting close to dinner. "Yeah, it is."

"Thanks for the help Blake." He said, getting out of his seat and offering her a hand.

Not wanting to be rude, she took the offered hand up and watched as he helped clean up the table. She could guess that it was his small way of thanking her.

"It wasn't too boring?" She teased, knowing how bored he was.

"Just a little." He said, knowing it was useless trying to lie to her. "I hope it wasn't boring helping me."

"I give you a C for mildly entertaining." She quipped, slinging her bag and walking out.

"How do I get an A?" He asked, following her out.

"By studying." She joked, secretly enjoying the expression he made at the punchline. Ruby was right. He was good company to have around.

 **JNPR Room**

"I'm back." The leader announced his entry, stepping into the shared room.

Looking inside, he saw two of his three teammates sitting in relaxing. Ren was drawing on a sketchpad and Nora was on her headphones while laying in bed.

"Hey Ren." He called to the ninja. "Where'd Pyrrha go?"

"She went off to the school gym." He answered, not taking his eyes off the flower he was sketching.

Nodding, Jaune went into the bathroom to change into his nightwear. Just as he was taking his shirt off though, a thought came to mind. _'We have a school gym?'_

 **With Pyrrha**

The Mistralian champion sighed as she looked at the timer on her scroll.

 **3.31 secs**

Resetting it to zero, she went to the holo-fighter and pressed start to go once more. Raising her shield she blocked the initial strike aimed for her. Stepping to the left, she swung her sword and struck the hologram only for it to sidestep out of the way. Not relenting, she drove forward and spun with a duck to catch it's legs before stabbing it in the chest.

As the holo-fighter disappeared, she opened her scroll once more to see her time.

 **3.31 secs**

It was frustrating to be stuck. Pyrrha may not show it to her friends, but even she got angry and agitated. No matter how many times she had gone over the exercise, her time had never gotten any better. Seeing she was alone in the gym, she thought it best to let out some steam.

Throwing her weapons to the ground she paced and stomped around to let it all out. It got to her how little she was progressing while doing so much. Walking over to a punching bag, she slammed a fist into it at winced as the sound echoed through the empty gym. As she went to go pick her weapons up after calming down, she felt her scroll vibrate signifying a message. Taking it out, she saw it was from her leader.

 **Jaune:** _Hey Pyr. Hope I'm not interrupting your workout. Ren told me you were out, but I just wanted to make sure you were alright._

' _That was sweet of him.'_ She smiled, feeling a little funny in her stomach. _'I should let him know I'm alright.'_

Messaging him back, she told him she was done and would be coming back to their room after a quick shower. She giggled out loud after she got a text a few seconds after of funny emoji with the word 'alright.'

She was truly glad things with her partner had cleared up. For a while, the redhead was scared they'd through their four years with him never wanting to speak to them again during the Cardin fiasco. But then he saved the bully's life and had apologized to her sincerely; she quickly accepted it without any hesitation.

It was also nice seeing him smile. For some reason it felt infectious to her. He was also full of surprises if today had said anything. She knows he refused to let her help him, but that wouldn't stop her. After his fight, she gave him the advice about his shield to test if he was willing to listen – and he did. So without him knowing, Pyrrha Nikos, would do what she could to help her partner in subtle ways.

She giggled at the thought of his expression if he found out what she was doing. She thought it was adorable how he was walking in the auditorium in his blue onesie while having that innocent smile on his face. Even his attempts at flirting were funny. Compared to other boys who just flexed and sounded cocky, his false bravado was cute to her.

Getting out of the shower and drying her hair, she was met with Yang coming.

"What's up P-Money." The busty blonde waved with a toothy grin.

"P-Money?" Pyrrha asked, not getting the nickname.

"You know. Because you're famous and your name starts with P." She explained. "I could always just call you Pumpkin Girl if you don't like it."

Pyrrha inwardly cringed, getting where that was coming from. She really didn't like that cereal at all. Because a deal her agent had with the advertiser, who so happened to be her advertiser's boyfriend at the time, she was begged to do the commercial and be on its cover. "I think I prefer P-Money instead."

"Alright then." Yang smiled, taking her top off and sitting next to her. "Oh. You'll never guess what I learned yesterday."

"What?" She wasn't much into gossip, but she'd humor her friend.

"So after a bit of nosing around, I found out my baby sister has a crush on your dorky leader." The blonde informed her, huge grin on her face. "And there I thought she'd one day marry her scythe before any boy."

If Yang had paid closer attention to the girl next to her, she would have seen her stiffen up at the news. After excusing herself and putting her clothes on, Pyrrha walked to her room slowly with a heavy pit in her gut.

She knew what jealousy was, but she couldn't be feeling that could she? Thinking of Ruby and Jaune going out made the feeling in her gut get heavier and her head feel light. Maybe she was just scared she'd lose her friend and partner, right? That's probably what she was scared about. She just didn't want Jaune to ignore her and the team after they had patched things up.

But what if either Ren or Nora decided to go out or found someone else to be with? The thought didn't bother her so much, and instead made her feel happy for the two if it ever happened.

' _Come on Pyrrha.'_ She berated herself. _'This can't be, can it? Let's try to think this rationally like we always do. Jaune is a friend. He is sweet, kind, and sincere. He treats you normally, so of course you'd enjoy his company. There is no way you can-'_

"Welcome back, Pyr." Jaune greeted her as she opened the door to see him and the other two playing a game of cards. "You're just in time to join us for a game of Blackjack. Ren's playing the house right now."

The smile he was giving her was different than the usual ones. For some reason it was a lot brighter and made her heartbeat quicken. Feeling the pit in her stomach be replaced with a warm feeling as she stared at him, she had to concede defeat with her feelings.

' _I have a crush on Jaune.'_ The champion thought, walking to have a seat next to him.

 **END**

 **AN: And that's chapter Zwei. Like I said, no pairings are there yet. I'm just following some things in canon. We all know Pyrrha had a crush on him, but the specifics of when don't say. And I highly doubt it was 'love at first sight.'**

 **If you're wondering about the whole Ruby having a crush on him part, it's not confirmed you shippers. Put your banners and pitchforks down.**

 **So yeah, there are some key parts to be foreboding on in this chapter. Like I said, I'm a fan of history and culture. Not all textbook like, but the autobiographies and stuff. I'm no political buff, but I know it's important to know a bit about it.**

 **I noticed I liked those things after watching the Avatar series, playing MGS, Assassin's Creed, and reading manga like Otoyomegatari and Magi.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and made by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Hey everyone. Another chapter coming up. If any of you are wondering the frequency of these updates, it's because I'm currently on a break from classes. I'm surprised this got some favorites that fast in just the short time. Couer-Senpai! Notice Me! …Sorry about that.**

 **Enough of my rambling though. Let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 3:** Strain and Gain

' _Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us._ '

Jaune stood in the gym waiting for Yang. Today was a weekend, so she decided to take this time to help him out. Looking over the equipment, he marveled at how complete Beacon had it. There were places for acrobatics, an area for sparring, rock-climbing, punching bags lined up together, and an assortment of weight sets.

There were a few students working out, but he paid them no mind as he continued to wait. Walking over to one of the bags he gave it a punch half his force and sighed when it didn't even budge.

' _That's not emasculating.'_ He sighed, patting his arm in embarrassment.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Vomit-Boy." Yang said as she entered the gym. "Had to take care of a few things before getting here."

"It's fine. I wasn't waiting long." He waved to her.

As she got close to him, she looked him up and down to see what she had to work with. In her honest opinion, she'd rank him a 4 out of 10 on a desirability scale. His limbs weren't that much of string beans, but compared to his height it wasn't that good. Grabbing one arm and giving it a pinch she was astounded to find almost zero fat on him. She even prodded his gut and pouted at feeling a very small layer of fat.

' _The guy's even slimmer than me.'_ She thought with a bit of envy. There was only so much she could take of other girls calling her 'a little chubby.' _'Good thing I'm giving him tons to eat. By the time I'm through with him, he'll be Captain Atlas for sure.'_

"So are we going to spar or something?" Jaune asked after she was done checking him over.

"Before we do that, you need to build up some muscles scraggly." She said, pulling him to a bench press. "I'm putting you on mass building and strength training first. So, what's your weight?"

"Last I checked I was 125lbs." The blonde answered, doing some stretches to limber up.

"You're that light?!" The brawler gawked. That weight was fine for huntresses and civilians, but hunters should have been a lot heavier than that. "What were you even eating before you came here?"

"Mostly fruits and vegetables. And some fish and chicken from time to time." He shrugged, rolling his shoulders.

If one of his sisters went on a diet, then _all_ of the family would be going on a diet. It got even worse when it was him who was losing more weight than them. He had a sneaking suspicion his dad was hiding sweets and meat though. There was no way Papa Arc stayed the same build just on the girl's diet alone.

' _Note to self: Change my diet to low carb and less sweets.'_ Yang thought while making a tight fist unconsciously. _'Also, add more fatty meat to Jaune's diet.'_

It may be petty, but it was also for his good. The guy seriously needed to put some padding on his bones. After putting three-fourth of his weight on the bar, she tightened it and called him over to start.

"I'll be spotting you on this, okay?" She said, hovering over him while helping him lift the bar. "Now, do 20 reps with 4 sets. I'll keep count for you."

 **Five minutes later**

"And… you're done with set 4." The busty blonde said, helping him put the barbell back on it's place. "You didn't do as bad as I thought you'd do. If we keep this up, you'll be benching your weight in no time."

"Ouch." Jaune squeaked, sweating hard while massaging his aching muscles.

"Feel the burn, Jaune?" She asked, knowing the feeling from past experience.

"I'm feeling it." He gasped, getting up and swinging his arms. "Can I have a short break? My arms cant move that much."

"Your arms won't be needed for the next one." She said, pulling him to the next equipment. "Time to try the leg press. Since your legs can carry your weight, we'll set you at 120lbs just to be safe. For this, just do 10 reps with 3 sets."

As Jaune got into position, Yang pulled the safety off. This was just the beginning of Jaune's road to becoming Captain Atlas.

 **Three minutes later**

"Good job." Yang clapped as he finished. "Take a two minute break and we'll be doing the basics. I'm talking pushups, pull ups, squats and shadow boxing."

"Yippee." The blonde knight's muffled voice said on the floor.

"Walk it off." She told him, lifting him off the ground with one hand. "Seriously. Go take a short walk to get yourself together."

Patting him on the back, he walked slowly while gasping loudly. After she had slapped his butt, he started walking faster like a horse that got whipped.

 **Two minutes later**

"1…1…1…1…1…1." Yang continued to say the number as Jaune pushed up once more.

"You've been saying 1 for the last twenty times." Jaune heaved as he did the pushups.

"Well do it correctly and I'll make it count." She said, giving a grin. "You're lifting with your back instead of pushing with your arms and chest. There we go. 2…3…4…4…5."

 **Six minutes later**

"Up to the chin, Jaune." The brawler instructed him, watching him try to do his fourth pull up.

"I think I'm at my limit." He strained out.

"Less thinking, more doing." She patted him on the gut, making him shoot up. "There we go."

 **Seven minutes later**

"Work those glutes." Yang cheered, joining him in doing sixty squats.

Was it wrong for her to peek at Jaune's butt? It wasn't that she was perving on it, it was just that it was right there. Seriously, it was like the only thing on his body that didn't look remotely boney. It was that healthy of a rear.

"Come on Jaune, count it off." She instructed him, seeing him tiring out. "Do it with me …35… 36."

"37… 38." The blonde male rasped as he counted with her.

 **A few minutes and a short break**

"Okay Jaune, we're going to do shadow boxing now." The blonde said, putting on her game face as they were in front of the large mirrors. "Arms up and show me your stance."

The brawler shook her head seeing him make a weak stance. His legs were too close together and he was too straight with his chin jutting out. Walking in front of him, she lightly shoved him and watched as he tumbled to the mat.

"Your stance is too weak." She said bluntly, watching him get back up. "Try to have your best foot forward while your other foot is in the back supporting you. Keep your chin tucked in with eyes on the prize. And always keep on your toes."

As he corrected himself to Yang's instruction, she moved in front of him to give him a shove once more. After he didn't rock back on her love tap, she tried a bit harder to test his footwork. This time his feet left the ground from her push, but he caught himself and landed on his toes before getting back in his stance.

"Good." She said, backing up a bit. "Now show me how you punch."

After he threw one out, Yang noticed instantly what was wrong.

"You need to put your hips into the swing." She showed him, giving him an idea. "What you did was okay for a jab, but power hits need power put into it. And always try to breath out with each punch thrown. You'll last longer and you'll throw more power out doing it too."

"Right." He nodded, trying out what she said. As he let a breath out with each punch and swing, he felt more power and speed behind the throws.

"Better." She approved, looking at the mirror and pointing at his reflection. "See that guy there? He's your toughest opponent. He's the guy you wanna beat. Every time you throw a punch, he's throwing one back. Learn how to throw and dodge his hits."

Looking into the mirror, Jaune saw the same guy he always saw in the morning. Glaring at him, he glared back with fists raised looking for a fight. As Jaune threw a jab out, the guy jabbed back. Tilting his head to the left, he went for a left hook but the guy had dodged and copied with a left hook too.

"I'll leave you two at it." She nodded, turning to her reflection to do the same. "Hey hot stuff. You looking for a fight too?"

 **Fifteen minutes later**

"You did okay for the first day." Yang commented, patting him on the back as he rolled his shoulders. "Your coordination and form needs work, but it'll get there."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He smiled, happy to know she believed in him.

"Don't thank me yet." She laughed, bringing him to the heavily padded mats. "Now comes the hand to hand training. It's time to teach you how to recover from throws and how to get out of locks."

He could only gulp as she motioned for him to try and attack her.

 **One hour later**

Jaune winced as he massaged his sore everything. When Yang said she'd be teaching him how to recover from throws and get out of locks, she meant he'd be figuring out for himself how to do those things. Her reason was solid too.

' _I'm not going to be holding your hand the whole way and spoon feed you. Some things you gotta learn yourself.'_

After getting tossed on his back the eleventh time and getting put in a guillotine, he learnt fast what _not_ to do. After that he started learning what to do. So now he could roll after getting tossed and could catch himself if thrown from a suplex. The locks were still hard to do since Yang's grip was stronger than his, but he was able to get out of rear naked chokeholds and armbars in three different ways. All he needed was two minutes to do so. It might sound short, but in a real fight that was taking too long.

"That should be it for the day." Yang said, rubbing his back to ease some of his pain. "You still have enough energy to meet up with Ruby for strategies?"

"After a hot shower and some food I will." He winced, hearing his joint pop from stiffness.

"That's the spirit." She patted him where it was sore. "Since you already know what to do, I'll just be coming by from now on to spot you and help with the hand to hand. Also, do some jump ropes to work on your reflexes and coordination."

"Thanks Yang." He nodded, rubbing the spot she patted tenderly. "I'm surprised I was able to last this long though. I thought I'd drop just from the first exercise."

"Why do you think I gave you all that food to eat this morning?" She said rhetorically. "With all the stuff you ate, you had a lot of energy to burn off and then some."

Now that the leader of JNPR had thought it over, his past meals weren't even that much to begin with. He only ate the minimal amount instead of eating more to last longer through the days. It looked like he found a new appreciation for Yang's diet on him.

 **Beacon Courtyard**

After taking a shower and sharing a short snack with Yang, the two blondes had separated with Yang heading off to Vale for her own 'Yang Time' while he was going to his dorm for a short nap. As he was looking around at all the students chatting and socializing outside, he spotted one of his teammates under a tree with eyes closed. Walking up to him, he saw that Ren was meditating while enjoying the relaxing breeze.

Taking a seat next to him, Jaune felt that the grass was nice and soft. Laying down with hands behind his head and taking his shoes off to wiggle his toes, he realized it felt nice being outside. Looking up into the tree, he saw he wasn't the only one that thought the same. Nora was on a branch happily snoozing while enjoying the breeze too. Before he knew it, he had joined the energetic girl in napping outside.

' _So peaceful.'_ Ren thought, happy his leader didn't bother him in his meditation.

It was nice having him back with them. Ren may not have always talked with him, but he felt Jaune was nice to have around. Sometimes if he or Nora were bored and couldn't think of anything they could enjoy together, he'd come up with a suggestion like playing cards or a role playing game. It might not seem much, but it was the small and simple things in life that were appreciated more than the grand and outlandish.

After finishing his meditation, he opened his eyes to see Pyrrha had joined them and was watching their leader sleep. While Jaune was avoiding them, she was the one who showed the most concern for him. He never really made an opinion of the redhead, but seeing her act concerned for Jaune made him see her as a kind person - a bit motherly at times, but still kind.

As they made eye contact, she placed a finger to her lips for him not to make a sound. Nodding in turn, he pointed up to Nora and tilted his head in the direction of their dorm. After getting his childhood friend off her branch as she continued to nap, he left the champion and her sleeping partner to their own time.

Pyrrha smiled at the sweet sight of Ren walking away with Nora sleeping soundly on his back. The way she was napping was so cute, no one would ever think she was a raging ball of energy. Turning back to her leader, she noticed how peaceful he was as he slept. Now that she had looked closer, it seemed that he was starting to gain a bit of weight in a good way. He was starting to look a lot healthier.

' _So I have a crush on you.'_ She sighed, looking at his sleeping face. Her breath must have tickled his face since it scrunched up before going back to normal.

Pyrrha could admit he was cute in his own way. Being a celebrity, she's met a lot of models and actors who were considered the handsomest or cutest boys - but she never saw the appeal. Outside of the publicity, they weren't that great to be around. Fame and fortune got into their heads. They became full of themselves and had learnt how to lie so well to the public. She couldn't imagine herself being with anyone like that.

But Jaune was different. His smile felt real and he was a good person. When he told her he had lied his way into Beacon, she was mad and disappointed at first. She thought she had made a mistake in choosing partners, but after listening to his reasons and trying to understand where he was coming, she felt sympathy for him- hence why she offered to help train him. She was put off when he lashed out at her, but after cooling down, she thought to give him a chance. Then the incident with Cardin happened.

But that's in the past now. She's learnt that her leader is many things, and a bad partner he is not. He's horrible at lying if their game of cards last night hadn't proven enough. He's not so good whenever it comes to surprise quizzes and tests. And he can annoy her at times by being a morning person while she wasn't. But he was also sweet, caring, funny, friendly, and a joy to have around.

After patting the grass, she could understand why her partner had fallen asleep. Lying across from him with her head next to his, she took her shoes off as well and felt the breeze tickle her sock covered toes. It felt nice as she just stared up the tree and saw some of the sun's rays shining through. She couldn't remember a day when she had last done something like this. As she tried to rake through her memories for a time she had done so, she had joined her partner in sleep without realizing it.

 **Minutes later**

Jaune was having a great nap on the cool ground, the grass as his bed, and the soft breeze like nature's fan. As he enjoyed the feeling, he felt something tickling his nostrils. Exhaling to get whatever it was off, he wasn't successful in getting rid of whatever it was. After blowing upwards, he felt that it had only gotten worse. Not opening his eyes, he lifted a hand to his face to wipe whatever it was off, but instead felt something soft and smooth.

Opening his eyes, he saw strings of red with light from the sun peeking out. Getting up, he felt the red strings fall off him and fall to the ground. Turning to the source, he saw his partner sleeping soundly behind him while on her side. It turned out her hair had landed on his face. Taking out his scroll to check the time, he saw he had twenty minutes before meeting up with Ruby for their strategy talks. Looking to his partner still sleeping so peacefully, he couldn't find it in himself to wake her with the way she was smiling in her sleep - but he couldn't leave her out all alone either.

Gently scooping her off the ground in a bridal carry, he adjusted her so her head wasn't dangling in an uncomfortable position. He was surprised he was even able to carry her like so. It was either she was really light, or he had gotten stronger. And judging by how he felt his muscles tense and stretch slightly, he wanted to think it was the latter.

While carrying her to the dorm though, the champion had snuggled her head into his neck with her breath tickling him. He had to steel his nerves not to shake and drop her. As he got to their dorm room, he was thankful Ren had left the door open. Once he got in, he saw Nora was now awake reading a magazine while Ren was enjoying the silence reading a book about romance and three kingdoms. He never thought of the ninja as the type to read those things, but he respects his interests.

"Aww." Nora whispered cutely at seeing Pyrrha cuddle into her partner.

"Sh." Jaune shushed her softly, walking to Pyrrha's bed and putting the owner in it.

"That was sweet." The hammer wielder whispered with a toothy grin. Seeing her leader heading out, she stopped to ask where he was going.

"Ruby wanted to meet up to talk team strategies." He answered her quietly. "By the time I come back, I might have some cool ideas we could all try out sometime."

"Okay." She waved, turning back to her magazine. "Have fun."

 **With Ruby**

 **Cafeteria**

After leaving his dorm room, Jaune messaged Ruby for her location and found she was in the cafeteria of all places. This killed two birds with one stone since Yang had given him his list of what to eat for lunch. After spotting the little redhead and greeting her, they immediately got to work talking strategies.

"So I had this idea where Blake and I would do a criss-crossing maneuver attack." The prodigy said, holding up a sketchpad to show what she meant.

The drawing wasn't that good and looked more like something a mom would hang on the fridge for her three year old. Getting away from her drawing ability though, he could understand what she was going for. Ruby and Blake were the speedy ones of her team so having the two use it to their advantage would be smart.

"It sounds good." He agreed to her idea. "Do you have any problems on this?"

"I'm unsure if it's that good. It sounds good on paper, but how will it work on a speedy opponent?" She pointed out, imagining trying to do the maneuver on someone who could block and dodge out of the way.

"Why not make a build up to it then?" The blonde leader asked, getting a groan out of her. "Like something to stop the guy from moving."

"Come on, Jaune." She sighed, taking her sketchpad back. "Like I could find a possible way to- lightbulb!"

"Bless you?" Jaune said, getting surprised by her sudden exclamation.

"No I got an idea how to build up to it." She said excitedly, drawing something new on the sketchpad. After a few more seconds she had turned it to him. "How's this then?"

It was the same drawing, but there was a scribbled circle drawn around the enemy this time while it connected to the drawing of Blake. At least he thought it was her since it had something like a bow on her head. Funny, it almost looked like she had cat ears instead.

"You were right about the build up part." Ruby said, pointing at the circle. "If I can get Blake to tie the guy up so he can't move, we can do Ladybug."

"Ladybug." He said with a raised brow. He got a playful jab in return.

"Why not?" She giggled. "They're black and red. Plus it's cute."

"The last thing your opponents hear before you and Blake tag team them." The blonde said in a playful extravagant tone. "Ladybug."

"Shut up." The hooded girl laughed, knowing it was in good fun. "So how about your team? Any ideas for them?"

"I had a few, but I'm not sure they're that good." He said, handing over a piece of paper he scribbled on.

As Ruby looked at his drawings, she tilted her head trying to figure out the stick figures he drew. She could guess who they were since he drew their weapons with them, so it was a bit easy to understand. He even drew a small ponytail for Pyrrha and made a pink streak for Ren's head. From what he could see, one of the moves was for Pyrrha and Nora doing the same thing they did to the Deathstalker during initiation. Looking below it, there was stick-Jaune and stick-Ren together doing slash motions around them.

"The one for you and Ren, is it supposed to be defensive?" Ruby asked, pointing to the picture.

"Yeah. I was thinking once I get good, we could try it out." He explained, looking down timidly.

"Well I think it's great. And I know you're going to get good." She supported him, getting a small smile in return. "By the way, what's the name for the attacks?"

"I wanted to call the first one a Nora Bomb. I don't think that needs an explanation." That earned another giggle from his fellow leader. "As for me and Ren, I was thinking of calling it White Flower or something."

"No fair, Jaune." The little redhead shook her head. "I already had a team attack name called Ice Flower. You can't copy off the name."

"You didn't tell me that." He argued, not wanting to change names.

"Its right here on the second page." She said, flipping her sketchpad to show another drawing of her and Weiss making blue flowers around them. "See? Ice Flower."

"Then what am I supposed to call my team attack then?" He asked, giving her the name.

"Um. Green… Hoodie." She said weakly, thinking of Ren's shirt and Jaune's hoodie. Getting a withering glare in return, she knew it wasn't that great. "I don't know either – but you still can't use White Flower."

"Fine." He sighed, taking note to work on the name later. Maybe he could ask his team on their opinion. Looking to the clock, he saw it was getting close to lunch. "You feel like getting a bite?"

"I could go for a snack." She agreed, putting her stuff away. Just as she got up, she had bumped into someone and heard the sound of a plate falling to the floor. "Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry."

Turning to who she had bumped into, it was the rabbit faunus Cardin had been bullying before. The two leaders never got her name, but they knew she was in their class with Oobleck.

"It's alright." The faunus said with an accent. Kneeling down to pick up her plate, her ears perked seeing the two first years helping her pick up the other stuff.

"Again, I'm really sorry about this." Ruby said in an embarrassed tone. "I'm Ruby by the way."

"Velvet." The faunus introduced herself. After all the things were on the tray, Velvet sighed seeing her lunch was now a mess. "Thanks for the help."

"H-hey." Jaune called to her before she could walk away. "Why don't we treat you to another meal? It's the least we could do for bumping into you."

"You don't need to do that." Velvet shook her head, not wanting them to go that far for her. "It's fine, really."

"We don't have to." Ruby said, standing by her friend. "But we want to."

"You two aren't going to give this a rest, are you?" The rabbit faunus said rhetorically, following them back to the line.

After they had gotten her a new tray of food while getting some for them, the three sat together in complete silence as they ate. Looking the two first years over, Velvet wondered if she looked as awkward as them on her fist year in Beacon. Granted she was only a second year, but one year ahead in a combat school meant more than people thought.

She knew who the two were not only because of shared classes, but also by the roles they were given and the people they were partnered with. Ruby Rose, the girl who made it in two years early. And Jaune Arc, partner to Pyrrha Nikos and considered the weakest of the first years. And both of them were leaders of their team. If anything, she felt a bit sorry for the two with the roles and expectations put on them.

The little girl was younger than her team, and they were expected to follow her lead. What's worse, she had the Schnee on her team too. The family was notorious amongst faunus on how they treated people of lower stature. She wouldn't judge the heiress yet, but just the name alone carried its reputation. The faunus didn't doubt there was friction when she wasn't made leader, but the little redhead was.

And the blonde eating a tray of meat was another story. When Pyrrha Nikos was announced to be attending Beacon, everyone thought she'd have the perfect partner and would be leader of her team. It was a surprise to a few that she wasn't made leader and her partner wasn't on equal footing with her. It must be hard for him to try and catch up to his partner and be seen as the leader.

"That's a lot of meat you're eating." Velvet commented, trying to strike a conversation.

"I know." Jaune said after swallowing. "I'm following a diet to try and gain some weight. Apparently I'm too light for my height or something."

She could understand where he was coming from. Her partner Yatsuhashi was a giant of a man that looked intimidating, but he was actually a huge teddy bear outside of combat. He also tended to eat more to stay healthy and maintain his physique. He's said eating the average amount others ate wasn't enough for him.

"I have a partner who does the same." She shared. "He says it's because of a high metabolism that he burns all that he eats quickly, so he needs to eat more than the average person. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of him for it."

"Why?" Ruby asked, munching on some cookies.

Looking at the two eat so freely while she ate her salad was starting to tick her off a bit. The little girl was eating more than the serving size prescribed and the boy next to her was stuffing his face with meat and cheese trying to _gain_ weight. She would place money on it that the two could stuff their faces all they wanted and still come out looking thin.

"Do you normally eat that much cookies?" Velvet asked, dodging the question to get her hunch confirmed.

"Not everyday." Ruby shrugged. "Maybe 4 plates a week."

' _Bollocks.'_ Velvet cursed internally, wanting more than ever to switch systems with the girl across from her.

"You still didn't answer why you're jealous of your partner." Jaune piped in after swallowing.

"I just wish I had his kind of metabolism." She confessed, seeing they wouldn't let it go. "It rubs me the wrong way how he's always saying he needs to gain weight while I have to either maintain or lose mine."

"Why?" Ruby asked, not seeing anything wring with her. "You're already thin."

"And it takes a lot of control to keep myself this way." The rabbit said, waving a finger to show she was serious. "Not everyone can just eat whatever they want and still maintain their figure. At least if I had a metabolism like you two or my partner, then I'd be able to eat as many cookies as I want or enjoy a nice slice of cake or two."

Velvet soon realized she was having a nice conversation with the two. Their trays were now empty and they were just sitting together sharing thoughts and shooting the breeze on things they liked. They even listened as she told her about her hobby of taking pictures of people's weapons and even asked to see some of the pictures she took. It was more of Ruby than Jaune though who wanted to see, as the little girl clambered atop the table to see if she had her camera with her.

The two may have seemed awkward at first, but once they grew comfortable around someone, they were fun to have around. Now that she thought it over, her leader Coco had said the same thing about her the first time the team was formed. She guess she was like them during her first year here. Listening to the two young leaders, she giggled as Ruby gawked at a quick comeback Jaune made to something she said to him.

 **Later**

After Velvet had left to go meet with her team, it was just the two leaders once more. After exchanging a bit more ideas, the two had left to go back to meet with their teams as well. As Ruby got to her dorm though, she was met with her sister lounging on her bed giving her a cheeky grin.

"What?" She said as her older sister wouldn't stop grinning at her.

"So?" She drawled. "How was the date?"

"Yang, it's not like that." Ruby rolled her eyes. "We're just two friends hanging out. He even helped me think of a cool move for you and Blake."

"I'll leave it for now." Yang relented, wanting to know about her attack. "What's it do?"

"Blake gets to swing you around for you to make a super punch." She explained in one sentence. It didn't sound that impressive, but in action it was going to be epic.

"Me punching things harder. I like that plan." The blonde nodded, ruffling her sister's hair. "So, back to you and Jaune."

"I thought you dropped that." Ruby stomped her foot, face turning red.

"I did. Now I picked it back up." She stated simply. "Now tell me how it went. "

"Nothing else happened." The little sister said strongly, trying to convince the blonde.

"The way you're denying makes me mighty suspicious." Yang teased, poking Ruby's cheek. "Or is it you want to see Vomit-Boy being all _cool_ again."

"Yang!" Ruby whined, cheeks burning up.

"Aha! You're blushing." She said, looking at her closer.

"Ugh!" While the two sisters talked, they didn't know a certain heiress overhearing things and gripping her pencil too hard.

Weiss was getting annoyed being in the room with the two. She was getting annoyed with Yang's constant teasing. She was get tired of Ruby's shouting. And she was getting tired of the subject of the matter, the dunce across the hall. Why couldn't they have just rejected his request for help and let him fend for himself? It's not their problem, but they've gone and involved themselves in it.

Seeing the two weren't going to be quieting down any time soon, she decided to go outside for some silence. She wanted to read her notes in the comfort of their room, but even she couldn't have that. Going to the library, she smiled seeing Pyrrha was inside reading to herself. Looking at her book, she saw it was for Oobleck's assignment on the constitutions. This was a nice opportunity for her.

"Hello Pyrrha." The heiress greeted the champion after walking up to her. "I noticed you were doing Oobleck's assignment alone, and I was wondering if you'd like to do it together."

"Oh. Hello Weiss." The redhead said with her own smile. "Actually, I was-"

"Got my notes, Pyr." A voice Weiss loathed said behind the Schnee. "Oh, hey Weiss. You here to do Oobleck's assignment?"

Turning around, Weiss saw the annoyance known as Jaune Arc walking up to the person she initially wanted as her partner. Looking to Pyrrha, she saw her smile had widened and her eyes shine as he had appeared. Was she just imagining things or was Pyrrha Nikos actually happier that her partner had arrived.

"Actually, I finished that assignment yesterday after it was assigned. Listing off comparisons isn't that hard to finish in a few hours, even someone simple-minded could accomplish it." She said with some hidden snark in her tone while facing him. "I see Pyrrha is here to help you out in finishing your work."

"Actually, Jaune's here to help me out." The champion corrected her with a thin smile, causing Weiss' eyes to widen. "Last night I was in the gym longer than I expected, and I lost track of the time. He finished his yesterday and offered to help me do the assignment."

The Schnee was feeling a tad bit of humiliation standing in front of the two. Replaying what she had said, she may have insulted Pyrrha in front of her and her partner. "O-oh."

Feeling awkward after that, Weiss had excused herself to go find another place to study. In truth, she hadn't finished the assignment since she thought it too easy to do. Yes the list would be long, but it wasn't something that couldn't be finished in a few minutes for her. Turning back to the two, she saw Pyrrha smiling as Jaune pointed out something in the book and back to his notes. When he looked away from the champion to turn to her, Weiss could have sworn she saw something in his eyes as he looked at her before turning back to his partner with a smile.

She bristled at the way he turned away from her. She knew that look from the way her sister and her father had done so! It was the look of disappointment. Who was this –this plebian to think he could look at her as so. She'd show him what for. But first, she had an assignment to get done.

 **The next day**

Classes were the same as usual. The only thing different was Oobleck's manner of teaching this time. After writing down Jaune and Blake's answers to the pop quiz, he expounded on them to the whole class. It was a bit somber talking about it seeing as it wasn't something students would normally find in textbooks, but in the reality of harsh experience in their line of work. Before the class could end though, it was Ruby who had a question to ask.

"You never told us what we'd become last time, sir." She said with arm still raised. "About higher powers and status using us for their interest."

"Ah, yes. Thank you Ms. Rose." The doctor nodded, getting the class' attention. "What we become to the higher powers for their own interest, are pawns in their battle. Sometimes it is for the sake of their nation, and other times it is for their selfish reasons. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't for selfish purposes most of the time. After all, even the constitutions written weren't made for all to be equal but for the interest of those who signed it."

"But don't take my word for it on this." He advised them. "You are all still young and have your own opportunities to make your own conclusions. What I have said shouldn't be taken at face value, so keep an open mind at all times. Class dismissed. Prepare for a quiz next meeting regarding on today's topic."

As the class exited, Weiss followed the blonde knight's form as he walked with his team to the cafeteria. The events of yesterday were still in her mind and she demanded satisfaction.

 **Gym**

 **After Classes**

Combat Class wasn't that eventful for any of them as Goodwitch didn't call any of them to fight. Half of Team RWBY was disappointed they didn't get called, but unlike Blake, Weiss' reason was different. After having a chat with Yang feigning interest on the dunce's progress, she was able to find out that he'd be in the gym now practicing his swordsmanship with Blake.

Entering the nearly empty training room, she spotted the blonde dunce practicing sword swings with her teammate. Blake was another problem of hers. It wasn't that she annoyed her with being too loud or invading her personal space like the other two. If she had done any of that, it would have felt out of character of her. No, her problem was how the bow-wearing girl kept looking at her when she thought she wasn't looking. It was obvious how Blake thought of her if the first day they arrived showed anything. Even though she hasn't said or done anything yet, she knew there was a gap between them.

"Don't try to swing your sword like a club." Blake instructed Jaune while swinging her sword with him. "It's meant for slicing, not for bashing people on the head with."

The heiress scoffed as she watched the blonde swing his sword. Ruby had told them how it was a family heirloom. Honestly, something so outdated being used nowadays was something to laugh at. It looked like it should be hung over the fireplace as a mantle piece. She wouldn't be surprised if it was hung up given its story.

Apparently her scoff was not as quiet as she thought since Blake had stopped what she was doing and turned in her direction. And as usual, she was looking at her with that infernal stare. Then Jaune had turned to her, seeing that the one helping him had paused.

"Hello Weiss." She greeted her. "I thought you said you weren't interested in helping Jaune train."

"I wasn't. But after getting curious, I thought I'd see how he was floundering about. And I'm not impressed." She said, looking over their state. They weren't that tired, so what she would be doing next wouldn't be so unfair.

"Are you saying you have a better way of teaching him?" Blake asked with eyes narrowing.

"Actually, I do." The heiress said, drawing out Myrtenaster. "Experience is the best teacher. So… Jaune. Why not accept my challenge?"

Turning to the person she was helping, Blake saw Jaune's hands were shaking. This was the problem she was aiming to fix. Jaune Arc wasn't a weak idiot like they all thought him to be. He wasn't unskilled and he wasn't a complete dork. He just lacked the confidence to believe he was good as them. Before she could try and clear things up though, he had cut her off.

"I accept."

 **END**

 **AN: A cliffhanger, I know. I know. Why do that? Mostly for suspense. Hope it worked though. I know I'm making Weiss act all bitchy, but it's mostly towards Jaune. She has her reasons and they aren't that clear, but it will be revealed in time.**

 **On another note, we get to see how other people see their teams. I'm not even sure how Ruby got to know Velvet. Sure they shared a class, but there wasn't any sign of them talking to one another besides the greeting when Velvet's team came back from a mission.**

 **(Looking around for shippers) Oh no, they're coming from the hills! Put them banners away! I said no ships confirmed and I meant it. You Arkos and Lancaster shippers better put down the banners right now! You too WhiteRose camping behind the tree. I see you. …When did shipping become a battlefield?**

 **Jokes aside, thanks for reading. And thanks for the reviews too. I enjoy reading them cause I hope I can find some nice constructive criticism on the character developments. Happy to see a few that pointed out how well I got them spot on.**

 **Next chapter we have a full on fight between two people who have unspoken words between the two. Will they console their differences and patch the rift between them, or will the rift widen and cause a new problem? Find out next time on Pokemon: Digital Monsters.**


	4. Heart to Heart

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and made by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Aloehisja here once more with a chapter. It's getting close to the docks scene and I was going back and forth in my mind who would win in the end and what the outcome would be.**

 **If you wanna find out, then prepare to read.**

 **Chapter 4:** Heart to Heart

' _I'm not perfect! Not yet. But I'm still leagues better than you.'_

Weiss smiled as she saw her opponent get into his stance. Unlike his last performance in class, his form was a lot better. But it still wouldn't be enough to beat her. She knew it, he knew it, and her teammate currently giving him advice knew it as well.

"Are you ready yet?" She called to him, getting impatient.

"I'll stop the match before things get too bad." Blake whispered to him, getting a short nod in return. "Don't worry so much and keep an open ear. I'm going to be coaching you through this."

After saying that, she got out of his way and announce for the match to begin. Jaune was being cautious with his shield out and sword behind him. From what he could remember, Weiss could summon circles out that either pushed her forward or gave her something to control the area. He'd have to keep a sharp eye out for any of those popping out.

Weiss didn't share the same thought as she had summoned a glyph underneath her to propel her forward with her weapon ready to thrust into his shield. The blonde wasn't even ready or it as he had been pushed back with shield held firmly. His aura level didn't dip, but the look on his face was more than enough for her to see she would be winning.

"Charge forward, Jaune." Blake said on his side. "Be more aggressive in your attacks. Now's not the time to be on defense."

The heiress watched as he ran towards her ready to hit her with an overhead swing. Summoning a glyph in front of her, she planned to propel him sideways once he stepped on it. Her eyes widened though when her plan didn't follow through. The dolt had jumped over it and was now swinging his sword to hit her side. Panicking, she summoned another glyph that repelled his strike away and bringing him off balance.

As he was recovering, she clicked to a fire cartridge and shot one out to have him jump back as he would usually do. Instead, he had jumped sideways to close the gap between them. Just as he was about to do another jump, she predicted where he would land and summoned a glyph that he couldn't avoid. As he was propelled backwards, she had propelled herself forward to thrust into his chest.

But out of nowhere he had went with the motion and had rolled out of the way. It was starting to infuriate her how long this match was taking. So caught in her anger, she forgot how close she was to her opponent until he had swung at her but missed at the last second. He wasn't giving her a chance to summon anything as he repeatedly swung his sword and kept close whenever she'd try to step back.

Off in the sidelines, Blake was observing how the blonde was moving. He was doing well in getting out of the way of some strikes, but it was his sword movements that bothered her. She had watched him swing that sword repeatedly as they practiced and he was able to move a lot faster than that. The initial movement was quick, but it was like every time he was close to hitting Weiss he'd slow down like he didn't want to-

"Get angry, Jaune." She shouted to him, figuring out what was wrong. "Stop hesitating and just hit her."

It was easier said than done for him. Despite all the things Weiss had said about him, despite how she kept glaring and treating him, he didn't want to hurt her. Even if she didn't see him as a friend, he saw her as one. And the last thing he wanted was to put her in pain. Looking at the scar on her eye, he knew she had already gotten hurt before.

Hearing Blake say the dunce was holding back on her stirred the heiress the wrong way. Looking at him, she saw him glance at her scar with signs of pity in his eyes. Gritting her teeth, she decided to forego using the glyphs and just thrust her weapon once she saw an opening in his chest. Seeing him step back from the blow, she made to thrust once more but recoiled as he had pushed his shield out at the same time.

The power of her thrust had recoiled back onto her wrist along with the force from the blonde's push. With her hand shocked, she had dropped her weapon and was clutching her wrist in pain. It was always the pains you weren't expecting that hurt the most.

"Weiss, are you alright?" Jaune asked in concern, forgetting about the match.

It wasn't the same for the Schnee as she snarled and quickly grabbed her weapon with her other hand to throw a glyph under him. Without warning he was launched backwards with too much force, he had hit the sandbags and the mirrors. Luckily, he wouldn't be suffering years of bad luck as the mirrors were tempered and could take a lot of punishment. The same could not be said for head though.

"Jaune!" Blake gasped in concern, seeing him hit the area headfirst. Turning to Weiss, she gave her a glare in disapproval. "Weiss, he was checking if you were okay."

"Then he should learn to hold his concern after a match is finished." She shot back, going back to massaging her wrist.

Bristling at her attitude, the bow-wearing girl jogged off to check on JNPR's leader. He wasn't out cold if the groaning was anything to go by, but after checking his aura levels, he was not in the yellow bordering red. She'd probably be in the same situation too if she hit hard wall headfirst at seventy miles per hour.

"Are you okay, Jaune?" She asked, not sure whether to pick him up or not.

"Just give me a second." He rasped, lifting a shaky arm to go to his nape. "I think my neck bent after the impact."

Blake winced after she heard some snaps and pops after he had massaged his neck. She knew her teammate didn't like him in particular, but she didn't have to be that brutal for an unsanctioned match. After seeing him trying to get up, she gingerly helped him to his feet and saw he was a bit disoriented.

"Maybe you should go and change." She suggested, feeling his head for any lumps and swellings. Finding none, she was relieved his aura had saved him from a concussion. "It might not be safe for you to continue for today."

"Thanks Blake." He winced as he got up, feeling wobbly as he walked to the showers. Glancing at Weiss, he saw her still glaring at him while holding her wrist.

After he was out of sight, Blake had turned her attention to the heiress who hadn't stopped glaring at the entrance lockers where Jaune had walked into. Walking in front of her, her gaze was now on her.

"What?" Weiss said as if she did nothing wrong.

"An awful amount of force for a small match." Blake pointed out, not letting up on her glare. Seeing as the Schnee wasn't going to say anything and didn't look regretful at all, she thought to go straight to the point. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"I do not hate him." She said vehemently. "To hate him, I'd have to know him on a personal level."

"Really?" The faunus in hiding said with sarcasm laden in her tone. "Yet you know him enough to challenge him and insult him to his face."

"I don't have to know him any more to see he is an incompetent fool." Weiss argued, straightening up to stare at Blake harder. "Since the moment he has arrived here, he hasn't shown anything to merit any form of adequacy."

"What about the Grimm Ruby said you saw him kill?" The heiress scoffed at her evidence for Jaune's sake.

"Please." She rolled her eyes. "At most, it was a fluke. If it weren't for Pyrrha's semblance, he would have been dead to rights. The way I see things, he's holding a fake accomplishment and everyone is praising him for it."

Clang

Turning to the sound of something dropping, the two fighting teammates saw Jaune standing at the entrance of the locker staring at Weiss with an unreadable expression. The sound was his weapon dropping on the floor. No doubt he had heard Weiss' words. To Blake though, she could see what he was feeling at the moment. There was hurt, disbelief, slight anger, disappointment, and …acceptance? Not bothering to pick his weapon up, he ran out the gym without giving either of them a glance. As Blake watched him go, Weiss made a comment that wasn't needed at the time.

"At least I spared him from living a lie." She sniffed with arms folded.

"I always knew all Schnees were cold and heartless." Blake growled, with a scathing glare to her teammate. "I was so stupid to think you'd be an exception."

"Excuse me?!" Before Weiss could say anything, Blake had dashed off to find Jaune. Right now he was in need of a friend.

 **Beacon's Statue**

Blake had easily found Jaune moments after leaving the gym. It wasn't so hard since there were very little places to hide and students were in their dorms by now. The blonde was currently looking at the statue of the Hunter standing heroically with his sword raised into the air. Slowly walking up to him, she placed a hand on his shoulder only for him to shy away.

"Just leave me alone Blake." He said sadly, not wanting to face her.

"Being alone is the last thing you need, Jaune." She pushed, not giving in. After the stood in silence, she took the initiative to help him. "Listen, I know what it feels like to go what you're going through."

"Do you?" He said, turning to her to show the anger and sadness on his face. "Do you really? Do you wake up every morning and look yourself in the mirror hating what you see and wish you were better? Because I do, Blake! I get out of bed trying to smile, wash my face, and look myself in the mirror every single morning, disgusted."

What he had said struck her close. Only, it wasn't every morning she felt disgusted. It was every time she'd catch a glimpse of her reflection wearing the bow on her head. Or whenever she'd see a faunus walking freely with their ears or tail out despite some of the glares they get from some of the people around them. She knew exactly how he felt.

"I do." She said, looking him in the eyes to show she meant it. "You're not the only one who's ashamed of looking himself in the mirror."

"…I'm sorry." He apologized, looking down in shame.

Mulling things over, Blake tried to think of something to say to ease him. He didn't have to apologize for anything. Neither of them did. Finding no words to say that would comfort him, she went for the only thing that she could think of. Walking forward she had pulled him into a hug. After feeling him stiffen and fidget from the contact, she secretly smiled as he returned the hug.

"Feeling better?" She asked after a few seconds, not wanting to let go.

"Yeah." He replied, not letting go either. "How about you?"

Truthfully, Blake was feeling a bit better herself. She couldn't necessarily go to her team for something like this after telling how she felt about her self-hate. They'd probably ask too many questions that'd lead to her revealing her secret. But Jaune wasn't like that. Since he was suffering the same thing under different circumstances, he'd assume it was the same for her.

"Slightly." She said, patting him on the back. "You wont tell anyone about this, will you?"

"It'll be our secret." He chuckled, mimicking her.

After letting go of each other, the two sat on the ledge of the statue looking over the courtyard. The pathways were lit and the city of Vale's lights were shining bright, but they were still able to see some of the stars in the sky.

"She's right, you know?" The blonde said, staring at the shattered moon. Blake turned his way to show she was listening. "Weiss was right. About the fake accomplishments."

"Jaune, I don't know how Pyrrha might have helped you, but Ruby wouldn't lie about you killing a Grimm." She said to bring him up.

"It's not just about the Grimm!" He shook his head with voice rising slightly. "Its everything. Me being the leader of my team, the initiation… and getting into Beacon."

"W-what?" Blake couldn't believe what she was hearing from him.

"I lied my way in." He said, turning to face Blake. "I got my hands on fake transcripts and I lied."

"D-does Pyrrha know?" Blake looked around to make sure no one else was there to hear this. This was a big revelation to her and she didn't want to be the cause of trouble for him. Thankfully it was just the two of them outside.

"She does." He nodded, not looking any better. "And she forgave me, but I still feel guilty about all of it. It's also why I came to you guys for help instead of her and my team. I already put them through enough, and Pyrrha's helping a lot just keeping my secret."

She nodded, understanding where he was coming from. If she had done wrong by her team, even she would feel bad asking for their help the next day. She guessed her and Jaune weren't so different in that regard.

"I think it was noble of you to ask for help while thinking of your team." Blake said, inching to sit closer to him. "Not that many people are willing to accept their faults."

"Indeed Ms. Belladonna." Hearing a new voice, both teens jumped slightly when the headmaster of Beacon had made himself known. "Quite a lovely evening, isn't it?"

"Hello Headmaster Ozpin." Jaune greeted the man with voice squeaking at the end. "Uh, how long have you been here?"

"Long enough." The gray-haired man said in his same calm tone. "One does grow concerned when he sees two young adults hugging in front of Beacon's statue this late. Forgive an aged man for his snooping."

"I-I'm guessing you heard our conversation then." JNPR's leader gulped, knowing that he did.

"Indeed." He called it.

"I'll go pack my stuff, sir." He said dejectedly, thinking what he'd have to tell his team. He'd also have to thank team RWBY for all the help and apologize to Weiss for whatever he did to make her mad. Turning to Blake, he saw her crestfallen face with her bow sagging a bit.

"What for Mr. Arc?" Ozpin asked, a brow rose. That had stopped him in his tracks.

"B-but you know about my transcripts." The headmaster was secretly enjoying the sight of Jaune sputtering and Blake looking between the two like a lost child.

"Indeed I do Mr. Arc." He nodded, getting a flinch out of the young man. "It's not everyday I look over the most over qualifying documents for a first year applicant. If I were foolish enough to believe it, I would have requested you over to become a professor at Beacon. That would be a story."

"So you knew the whole time his documents were fake?" Blake asked, joining in the conversation.

"Of course I did, Ms. Belladonna." He said, motioning for Jaune to sit down with her. "Ms. Goodwitch herself knows about them and has held her tongue at my request."

"Why?" Jaune asked to the expectation of Ozpin. "Why accept me then?"

"Mr. Arc… Jaune." Ozpin felt he'd need to speak to him on a closer level than his headmaster. "After throwing your fake documents away I looked into your real files. Imagine my surprise how ordinary they were."

The blonde flinched at the description of his file, but he continued.

"Coming from a family of eight children with the only warrior being the father whose salary isn't that high." He said, sitting with the two. "It must be hard for parents to send any of their children to a combat school with so many mouths to feed. It must have been hard for you to watch other children your age go off and train to help people and become warriors like your father, feeling you wouldn't get the chance yourself. So, I decided to give you that chance. You entered my school, made friends, saved a life of a past tormentor, and continue to try and better yourself after accepting your flaws."

"Glynda felt accepting you was foolish of me." He said, standing up. "I think it would have been even more foolish not to give you a chance. So far Jaune, I don't think I am wrong. Now, if you excuse me. I am needed elsewhere."

After saying his piece, Ozpin had left the two to give them some privacy. Although he had another important matter to fix, helping a student in doubt of himself was also an important matter he needed to fix.

The two teens could only sit in silence as they mulled over the revelation Ozpin told them. For Blake, it made her wonder if he knew about her past as well. Of course he would know. He had spotted Jaune's documents. What was stopping him from noticing hers? Turning to the boy sitting next to her, she could see his eyes lighting up like something had been taken off his shoulders. She was happy for him in that regard. Maybe one day she'd be able to feel the same way too.

For the leader of JNPR, he felt a new perspective of things. In some way, he had earned his keep. Turning to Blake, he couldn't stop the grin on his face from growing. Hearing a cough in front of them though, their good mood had crashed down seeing who it was. It was Weiss with Crocea Mors in her hands.

"I believe this belongs to you?" She said, eyeing the two sitting so close together. As Jaune got up to take his weapon back, she fidgeted a bit after he didn't say anything. "I shouldn't be the one to tell you this, but you shouldn't leave your weapon lying around after dropping it. You're not a child who needs to be picked up after."

"Um, thanks Weiss." The blonde said slowly, strapping his weapon back to his waist. "Weiss, I-"

"Shush." She held a finger out for him to be silent. "After mulling over whether to bring it to you or not, I thought over my actions and…"

"I was out of line." She said, her tone going from its usual snark to soft. "I still feel I don't need to apologize for telling the truth, but you were hurt by it and I'm sorry for that. I know I refused to help train you, and I feel simply saying sorry isn't enough. So, I am offering to help you out and give you small pointers now and then. Is that fine?"

"Okay?" He said not really sure what she was saying. All he got was that she was saying sorry and offered to help him, and he was taking it.

"At least try to speak with a backbone." She huffed, going back to her usual self. "Honestly you were able to stand up to Winchester for your team, but when it comes to yourself you're a wimp. If I'm going to help you, you need to have more confidence in yourself."

"Right." He nodded, sounding a bit more confident.

"…You're posture is terrible." She said with a sour face. "We'll be sure to work on that on another time. As for now, try to have a bit more self-respect. Even you have the right to it."

Before she walked off, she had one more thing to add. "Pyrrha had asked me to keep her help a secret from you. You overhearing my conversation with my teammate was unintentional, so if you would…"

"I wont tell if you wont." Jaune made a zipping motion on is lips. She smiled at his understanding.

As the heiress went to their dorm, Blake was confused by what had happened. She still didn't think highly of Weiss, but her sudden apology and offer to help Jaune had caught her off guard. She decided not to think too much of it. For all she knew, Weiss would probably be kicking their door down to bombard Ruby on fixing their still unfinished schedule now that she was on board. After saying bye to the blonde knight, she had gone off to her dorm to see how things were going.

 **JNPR Room**

Pyrrha was humming a small tune to herself as she polished her weapon. Nora had shared the events of the other day when Jaune had brought her into their dorm while she was sleeping. She was a bit embarrassed as she explained how he was holding her in a bridal carry with her face buried in his neck. The ginger had commented how sweet it was, and the champion agreed with her.

Lately, she felt she and her partner had been getting closer over the past few days. Even though they gave each other space, whenever they did get together to just talk and spend time with the team, they all would learn something new about one another.

An example was finding out Jaune's hoodie was from eating fifty boxes of Pumpkin Pete's cereal. The news of that had made her cringe at the thought of eating all that cereal in one go. Now that she thought about it, his blue onesie had the bunny logo on it too. …Which would mean he had to have eaten more of that cereal.

"You okay Pyrrha?" Nora asked, seeing the champion turning a little green under the gills. "You look like you're about to throw up."

"I just thought of something disgusting." She said, trying to get rid of the thought of all the cereal.

"Was it Ren's algae juice?" The energetic girl asked, eyeing her partner who rolled his eyes. "I can get the trash bin."

"It's nothing." The redhead replied, getting away from her sick trigger.

Just as her feelings of unease in her stomach had went away, it had came back as her crush had walked through the door with a huge smile on his face and standing a lot straighter for reason. Now that he wasn't slouching as much as before, she never noticed how broad he was in the shoulders. Something good must have happened for him to be standing taller.

"I'm back." He announced his return, getting a hum from Ren and a wave from Nora. "So, how have you guys been doing?"

"Same as always." Ren answered, reading his book with a drink in hand. "I'm currently on Battle of the Red Cliffs."

Apparently, Ren's book wasn't about love despite having romance in the name. It was about dynasties and feudal lords trying to restore or replace their dynasties or something. It was a very long book with a lot of characters. The writing was a bit poetic from his short glances. From what the ninja had told him, it had 120 chapters. It wasn't something Jaune would be touching for a while.

"I'm a little bored." Nora told her leader, hoping he'd have a game to play. Ren was too into his book, and Pyrrha wouldn't stop polishing her weapon.

"We could try playing Cards Against Remnant, but with just the two of us I don't think it'd work out." The blonde leader said, getting a long 'aw' out of her.

"I'm pretty sure we'd _all_ question our sanity before the game was over." Ren told his opinion, knowing the kinds of cards the game held.

"Yeah. You have to admit though, some of it is still funny." He tried to defend the game.

"Jaune." The normally silent one of the team said, looking up from his book. "Lisa Lavender presents: not giving a shit about anyone else, the story of Atlas."

"Well, it's not completely wrong." Pyrrha pointed out, listening in. "Weiss is one of the exceptions, but I've met a few aristocrats of Atlas and I wasn't impressed with their opinions of other countries."

"I still reserve my judgment, but I'll take your word for it Pyr." Jaune said, lying on his bed. "Besides, that card play wasn't _that_ bad. Maybe racist, but not that bad."

"Why not play a game of crazy eights?" Pyrrha suggested after putting her weapon away. Getting an agreement from the two, Jaune pulled a deck of cards out and started shuffling.

"Thanks Pyr." He said to her, his eyes twinkling a bit.

"I just suggested the game Jaune." She said, not seeing any need for gratitude.

"I just felt like thanking you for everything." The way he was smiling at her was starting to heat her cheeks. Turning to Nora, she tried to distract herself with the game while sitting close to him.

 **Next Day**

All students were currently having a free period since Professor Peach was not around once more. It was strange how the first years had never seen the professor at all. Others had sighted her, but for some reason when asked what she had looked like, they had forgotten her face.

With a large amount of time on their hands, the students thought they'd take the chance to have some fun or finish some work close to their deadlines. Pyrrha and Nora had gone to the training rooms to practice the Nora Bomb much to the request of the person it was named with. Ren took the opportunity to take the same spot under the tree for meditation. Blake had gone off on her own somewhere. And Weiss had dragged Ruby and Yang off to work on their schedule seeing as the two were the only ones unable to make up their minds. That just left Jaune with a lot of free time with lunch being the next period.

He was thinking of going to the gym for a workout but Yang had rebuked him from doing so, saying how he needed to give his body a rest for his muscles to develop. He followed her word seeing as she was an expert on it judging by how strong she was. With nothing to do in the dorm until meeting the others for lunch, he thought he'd head into Vale and do some sight seeing. It'd be an experience walking around in the big city.

 **Streets of Vale**

The blonde knight would forever be thankful for gum. After telling Ren where he was going and commenting how awful the ride would be because of his motion sickness, the ninja had pulled gum out of his pocket saying how it would cure him. The normally silent guy then went into detail about digestive enzymes and other stuff Jaune wasn't really paying attention about. What mattered was that he had something to combat motion sickness! Oh, if he only had it on his first ride to the school he wouldn't have the nickname Vomit-Boy.

So after enjoying a ride to Vale and seeing the view he missed out on, Jaune was walking the streets to see what the place was like. It was a bit overwhelming seeing all the stores with stuff he couldn't normally buy back home. Then again, nothing really interested him that much then. After wandering aimlessly, he spotted a place that looked promising – Tukson's Books Store, Any Book Under The Sun.

"I wonder." The leader of JNPR muttered, slowly walking up to the store with a title in mind.

 **Inside the store**

Blake was currently in an isle looking over one of the books Jaune had told her about. She wasn't normally into books based on games, but after some online reviews based on the story, she found herself curious how good the novel was if the online reviewers had tagged it as a 'masterpiece.' Hearing the bell ring, she had peeked over the shelves to see a mop of blonde hair walking in while scanning the area.

"Welcome to Tuskon's Book Store. I'm Tukson." The owner greeted the new comer.

"Uh, hi." Jaune said, looking to the man towering him. "I saw your store and I was wondering if you had this book I was looking for."

"What're you looking for?" The scruffy man asked, motioning to the vast amount of books he had stacked.

"Ninjas of Love." Blake didn't know what hurt more – her head after Jaune had said the title with such an innocent face, or Tukson's jaw with how low it was hanging.

"A-are you sure that's the book you're looking for?" Tukson asked, feeling uncomfortable selling it to its not intended audience. Then again the guy could be… "Do you even know what the book is about?"

"It's a love story about ninjas, right?" Jaune shrugged, looking around the place.

"Isle X." Tukson thought he'd let the kid figure out the book on his own. He's definitely not going to explain it to him.

Off in the sci-fi section, Blake gaze was following Jaune as he had made it to a section she was familiar with. How fortunate of her to have been here. The last thing she needed was for Jaune of all people she knew to look for her secret pleasure.

As the leader of team JNPR browsed the shelves for his intended read, he came upon tons of books with funny titles. It was a bit strange how the isle he was in had a huge X on it while all other sections were properly labeled to their genres. Even the book titles didn't seem to hold the same genre based on their titles alone.

' _The Secret Life of Soap.'_ The blonde thought it must have been a boring read if it was about soap. Probably how soap was made and it's uses outside of its intended production.

"There it is." He whispered, spotting the title he was looking for. "And it comes in a series too? Score."

Just as he was about to grab for the volume one, a hand had grasped his wrist and lowered it to his side. Turning to the source of the hand, he saw Blake giving him the coldest of glares with a thin frown on her face.

"H-hey Blake." Maybe if he acted casual, she'd leave him be. It's not like she knew what he was looking for, right?

Seeing her holding up a book he was familiar with, he could guess she was here long before him and heard everything. No words were said between the two as Blake had pulled him out of the porno section and to the cashier where she purchased her book. Still not letting go of his wrist, Jaune saw Tukson give him a short wave with a guilty expression on his face.

As they made it outside, Blake kept pulling his arm until they had made it to a café where she sat him on a table. It seemed she didn't trust him to be alone until he'd give buying the book a rest. Sitting in silence, she opened her newly bought book and started reading while keeping a close eye on her prisoner. And Blake was a very good at multi-tasking.

"So I see you're giving Metal Gear a chance." Jaune started, glancing at the spine of the book and then to her. "You're even starting from Operation: Snake Eater."

"Mhm." She hummed, not turning to look up. So far, the grammar and way of story telling was written well enough she could imagine the character's actions and voice. "The books didn't have any numbers showing the order, but online reviews suggested starting on this first before anything else."

"You know, I have the complete set back t my place." He said, getting her to look up. "If I can get a call back home, they could probably ship them here in a few days."

Blake knew a bribe when she saw one. The way he was fidgeting and bringing up his collection so suddenly was obviously a bribe. "What do you want?"

"Ninjas." He said, leaning on the table like a kid asking for candy.

"Jaune, I can tell you now that the moment you read three chapters in, you wont want to pick up the book anymore." Every male she knew who was curious of the book had stopped reading after the third chapter.

So men fondled and kissed each other in the book. Media showed women doing the same and she didn't repulse away from it like a five year old. Not to say she would do it, but she's mature and comfortable enough in her sexuality to know it wouldn't affect her.

"Why not?" He asked, not willing to give it a rest until his curiosity was sated.

"Jaune, it may say ninjas and love, but it isn't the traditional love media usually portrays." Seeing he wasn't getting it, she'd have to go with blunt and short as usual with him. "It's about two male ninjas falling for each other in the battle field."

"Okay, thank you for clarifying that." Blake was surprised by his maturity at the short summary. "That's one series I won't be picking up anytime soon."

It was now awkward for Blake as the silence had gotten to her. She was half expecting him to recoil and sputter how gross it was at the thought, but he was just sitting across from her looking around the place. She even had an argument set up for his immaturity, but not this.

"If you still want to borrow the collection, I'm okay with it." He said after she had flipped a page.

Currently, by how the story was going, Blake was getting curious how the rest of the books would play out. A few spoilers she had glanced at said stuff of clones and ninjas, so she wanted to see it through. Besides it wouldn't do to start reading a collection and not going all the way. It wasn't right for her to do so.

"I'd like that." She nodded, looking forward to getting a new series.

 **Cafeteria**

The bow wearing girl knew Jaune wouldn't be going back to get the book from Tukson's, and was okay if he had left her at the café. But he had stuck by her until it was time to meet their teams for lunch. Apparently, he was hoping to see what her reaction would be to some of the events of the novel. While some parts were unexpected, she didn't show him that much of a reaction - a smile or a nod and the usual hum in understanding, but that was it. After checking their scrolls and seeing lunch was near, they took the nearest Bullhead to school to meet up with their teams.

"Hey guys." Jaune greeted his team at their usual table. "How was the Nora Bomb practice?"

"It went well, until Nora overshot herself and broke the floor." Pyrrha reported, turning to her partner in crime who was grinning sheepishly.

"We're a shoe in to win the Vytal Tournament with that move on our arsenal." The ginger pumped a fist, putting a leg on the table.

"Nora, foot off now." Ren scolded her, tapping her foot off and getting a pout in return.

"Vytal Tournament?" Their leader asked, not knowing what that was.

"Honestly, did you grow under a rock or something?" Weiss piped in, walking up to them. "How is it you've never heard of the tournament. It comes with the Vytal Festival after all."

"I've never been to any of those." He admitted, sounding like the kid who didn't go to the fieldtrip with the rest of the class.

"Well that simply wont do." The heiress said with hands on her hips. "As the leader with the Mistral Champion on your team, you should be well informed of the festival and tournament. Luckily, my team has planned to head to Vale in two days to see the preparations of the festival. You and your team can follow so you can have a better appreciation for the event."

As the heiress walked off to sit back with her team, Jaune turned to his team and saw their brows were raised just as high as his. Taking a seat next to his partner, the blonde knight leaned in close to mutter something to her.

"In a strange way." He whispered. "I think that was her being nice."

"I thought so too." The redhead nodded, glancing at Weiss talking with her team as she returned. Judging by the expression of the two sisters after the heiress had said something; she could guess the plan to go to Vale in two days was a spur of the moment. "It seems she's finally warming up to you."

"So it looks like we're going to Vale in two days." Jaune smiled, nudging her with his shoulder. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see how the festival will be."

"That's fine Jaune." She giggled, nudging him back in return. "You're not a good liar to begin with."

"Hey!" She giggled at his expression to her quip. Apparently, Ren and Nora thought it funny too.

In two days, they would be going to Vale to see the preparations. It was going to be fun.

 **END**

 **AN: Foreboding. Foreboding. We all know what's going to happen there. Initially I had written Jaune exploding on Weiss in the fight, but then I went against it feeling it would have been off. So I had a Jaune and Blake sharing their own secret insecurities. Ozpin showing up wasn't just me pulling a rabbit out of the hat. If he was 'coincidentally' there to comfort Ruby on her role as leader, then there is no doubt he'd 'coincidentally' be there to assure Jaune of his role too.**

 **So Jaune and Blake have gotten closer as friends. I think it almost similar to how his friendship with Ren is. Truthfully I hope I was able to get Weiss' attitude right in this. I always see her masking her willingness to help under an excuse like she doesn't want them to know she's that nice.**

 **While writing this I saw a potential for an omake and thought how I'd right it down. And here it is:**

 **OMAKE**

 **JNPR's Cards Against Humanity**

 **The worst cards played ever. Of all time:**

1\. Lisa Lavender presents: not giving a sit about anyone else, the story of Atlas. – Pyrrha. Ren's turn.

2\. You haven't lived until you've experienced eating a box of Pumpkin Pete's and full-blown orgasms at the same time. – Jaune. Pyrrha's turn.

3\. We never did find love, but along the way we learned about making the penises kiss. – Nora. Ren's turn.

4\. My plans for world domination start with a boner. – Ren. Nora's turn.

5\. I can only express myself through sad ejaculations. – Jaune. Ren's turn.

6\. How I met my last significant other. Crucifixion. - Nora. Jaune's turn.

 **Reaction:**

1\. Ren denying he was against Atlas.

2\. Pyrrha running into the bathroom at the thought of the nasty cereal giving an 'O' face.

3\. Jaune refused to look at Ren until his turn.

4\. Full blown laughter after Nora asked 'who had a boner?'

5\. Ren pointing out how impossible it would be to have an erection while sad. There was a debate on that.

6\. The group stopping after Nora asked if it was his or her crucifixion.

 **END**

 **AN: If you thought these were funny, check out RexHeller's story of Cards Against Remnant. It was a good laugh imagining the characters saying these things.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Hey all readers. Another chapter up.**

 **So I'm reading the reviews and I'm happy that I'm doing good so far. And to that one reviewer who writes a lengthy one, yes I noticed you, thank you for the critical reviews. I actually enjoy reading those kinds of reviews.**

 **If you've read the last chapter, you know what's coming this chapter. But with others around them, will things go differently? Read and find out.**

 **Chapter 5:** Fallout & Patch ups

The two days had breezed by for a lot of the students. With the coming of transfer students and the city preparing for the festival, even the staff of Beacon were hard at work planning for the ceremony and fixing the roles to play. Supplies needed to be ordered in advance, setups were being negotiated, and décor was being looked over - a very busy time indeed for the grownups.

In those two days, Weiss had contributed to Jaune's tutoring. Unlike Blake who had taken to help with his swordsmanship and schoolwork, Weiss had deigned his etiquette a problem that needed to be fixed posthaste. It mostly centered on how he carried himself. Outside of class and with friends he could act as his usual self – but in areas where professionalism was needed, he was to have a visage of a proper leader of his team. She'd rebuke him if he uttered any words such as 'um', 'er', and any other similarities that showed unease and hesitance and would be quick to swat him if he so much as slouched in front of her. She'd never admit it, but the heiress was enjoying herself in teaching the blonde. Currently, the two teams were walking to the docks where the Schnee had pulled her team over much to the confusion of the other team.

"Weiss?" Jaune called to her, looking over the people decorating their stores. "Why are we at the docks instead of the streets?"

"It smells like fish." Ruby added nasally, pinching her nose.

"That should be obvious." The heiress said in a happy tune, ignoring her leader's comment and the odor. "As representatives of Beacon, I feel it is our duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

' _When did we become the representatives?'_ The members of team JNPR thought, glancing to each other and then to the three of team RWBY. It was apparent news to them as well.

"She wants to spy on them to get the upper hand in the tournament." What Blake said must have been true seeing as Weiss vehemently denied to such a thing.

"Hm? What's that over there?" The young leader pointed to a building with police tape.

Walking to the crime scene, the two teams overheard two detectives talking of stolen items and how only dust was stolen but not the money. After one of them suggested the White Fang, Weiss scoffed at hearing the name.

"The White Fang." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "What an awful bunch of degenerates."

"White Fang?" Jaune asked, not familiar with the name.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard of them either!" The heiress slapped a hand to her forehead. "How outdated is the place you live in that you don't even know of them?"

"Nevermind." She raised a hand, stopping him from asking her rhetorical question. "The White Fang are a group of degenerate faunus who so happen to be criminally insane."

"They're hardly a bunch of psychopaths." Blake stood up for the group. "They're just misguided."

"Really." Weiss turned to her with a raised brow. "I hardly call a group wanting to wipe humanity out misguided."

"Then they're _very_ misguided." She shot back. "And if that's the case, why would they rob a small time dust shop?"

"She's got a point." Ruby agreed with Blake. "Besides, the cops haven't caught that Torchwick guy robbing a dust shop months ago. Maybe it was him?"

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Her partner raised her nose in the air. "Those faunus don't know anything but how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"That's not necessarily true." Yang disagreed, seeing her partner's rising temper.

Just as Blake was ready to snap at the Schnee, someone had something else to say.

"Maybe they're being forced to do it." Jaune raised his hand, adding his own thoughts.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked, not catching what he had said. Blake had quelled her anger to the heiress to see what her new friend's opinion was on the matter.

"Maybe they're being forced." He repeated himself. "If it's a big group, maybe they have a leader telling them to do bad stuff and they're afraid to go against him."

"And you know from experience?" That was a low blow for her seeing the blonde wince a bit. Looking over to his team, she saw she had crossed a line. "Right. I apologize for that."

"No one wakes up one morning deciding to do what's obviously wrong." Ren stated a fact. "Human or faunus, it makes no difference."

"Hey! Stop that faunus!" The group heard at the docks. Somewhere, Murphy was laughing at them.

"Thanks for the ride." They heard a voice taunt.

As the two teams ran back to the docks to see what was the commotion, they saw a blonde monkey faunus hanging on a lamppost by his tail with a banana in hand and two students waving their fists at him.

"You no good stowaway!" The student shouted.

"Hey. A no good stowaway would've been caught." The faunus pointed out, while upside down. "I'm a great stowaway."

The two detectives from before had walked over and demanded the monkey faunus to get off the post, but received a banana peel to the face instead. After flipping off the post and running up the stairs to where the two teams were, he had looked over to Blake and gave her a wink as their eyes met. His attempts to flirt and look cool were thwarted though as he had bumped into another blonde boy and had them both tumble to the ground.

"Why?" Jaune groaned, knowing Nora had pushed him in the way.

"Good job fearless leader. You caught the crook." The ginger smiled, helping them both to their feet.

"Sorry about that man." The faunus apologized, wiping some of the dirt on the other blonde's arm. "Didn't mean to run into you like that."

"Its fine. The concrete cushioned my fall." He joked, trying to make light of the situation.

"Hey! Get back here!" The detectives shouted, finally getting up the steps.

"Oh shoot!" The blonde faunus flinched, seeing the nearly out of breath detectives slowly running up to him. "Again, sorry about that. See you at the tournament!"

After nodding his head to the person he ran into, the monkey faunus had sprinted off to get away from the detectives passing the two teams. After processing what had just happened, it was Jaune that spoke up. "How'd he know I was going to be in the tournament?"

"You're in your armor with your sword strapped to your hip." Blake pointed out. "It's not that hard to miss."

"Well Weiss, you just saw the competition run off." Yang slapped the heiress on the back, bringing her out of her stupor.

"Q-quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss said, running ahead of her team with Ruby close behind.

"While Weiss and Ruby go after the …competition, why don't we see the rest of Vale together, Jaune?" Pyrrha nudged her leader. "I'm sure we can all meet up later after finishing our sightseeing."

"That sounds nice." Her partner agreed, turning to the other two members of team RWBY who had stayed behind. "After we're all done, let's text where we're all going to meet up."

"Sounds like a plan." Yang nodded in return, going after her sister and her partner.

"Thanks." Blake smiled to Jaune, not specifying what she was thanking him for before she had chased after her partner.

"What was that about?" Nora nudged her leader, getting a shrug in return.

"So, I'm sort of new to Vale." Jaune turned to his team with a grin. "Anyone have any suggestions of where to head first?"

The smiles they gave in return showed that it was going to be a fun day for all of them.

 **Streets of Vale**

"I can't believe this place exists." Jaune said in awe, looking at all the pancakes stacked with steam coming from their tops. "Nora, how did you find this place?"

"She called to me." Nora sniffed, standing next to her leader with a proud smile like a mother seeing their child walk. "Momma's home."

After pulling her team in, they weren't surprised to see that Nora was well known to the people working there. The moment the ginger asked for the usual, there were pancakes upon pancakes being pulled out from the back all in different assortments. After minutes of trying to eat each different type of pancake, Jaune was stuffed as he could only get six of the twenty. His partner and Ren weren't fairing much as they could only stomach eight and four respectively – and there were still more pancakes coming out.

"Stop ordering." Pyrrha begged her leader. "I can't take anymore."

"I don't think anyone is ordering." He whispered back. "They just keep bringing more out."

"What's the matter, you don't like it?" A cook asked the ninja, who was clutching his gut in pain.

"He's full." Nora called over with a pancake in her mouth. "Pass that over here. I got it."

After ten minutes of Nora devouring pancakes with Jaune and Pyrrha joining in now and then after feeling some space, they had finished the stacks. The three normal stomachs could only glare as Nora had walked away normally while they had to clutch their guts while walking out in pain.

"That was good." Nora shivered in delight, patting her belly. "So, what's next?"

"Give us a bit." Ren groaned while hunched over. "It's my turn to choose, but I'm too full to go there."

After the three had recovered, Ren had brought them to the arcade where he showed them his skills in Dance Dance Revolution. After pulling a protesting Nora to join him, the two were soon laughing as they enjoyed their time playing together.

"Jaune." Pyrrha nudged him, pointing to the other games lined up.

After having fun with his partner on the virtual shootings and the punching games, the blonde spotted a flash in the corner of his eyes and turned to see a photobooth. Looking at the tutorial on the screen, he saw it was the type that people could draw on and add some accessories to the pictures. Pulling Pyrrha in, the two had two pictures where they drew on the faces and added some funny effects to them before Nora had jumped in with Ren to make the last two shots an all team photo. The results were hilarious as the final shot came out with Ren and Jaune wearing makeup like drag queens, Nora's face having a moustache, and Pyrrha's mouth opened wide in an ungodly scream.

"Let's just keep the first three." Jaune suggested, not wanting to hold onto the last one.

"I'll keep that one." Nora laughed, pocketing it in her skirt. "This'll be marked as JNPR's first day in Vale together."

"Hey, yeah. This is our first day out as a whole team." Her leader nodded. "So Pyr, where did you wanna go next?"

"Just a café I ran into on my first day in Vale." The redhead smiled, guiding her partner with the two following close behind.

The café Pyrrha was talking about was in a small corner with a view of the center of Vale. By the time they got there, the sun was already setting. It had a homely feeling to the place, and the smell of coffee was very strong in the air. After Ren reminding Nora that she could only have decaf mentioning a 'last time' he wouldn't specify to the other two, they were set to enter the place.

"I'll have the velvet mocha." Pyrrha told the attendant before turning to her team. "What will you guys be ordering?"

"Chai tea for me and a decaf for Nora." Ren ordered for him and his partner.

"Can I try the El Supremo challenge?" Jaune pointed to a picture of a cup swirling with color.

"That's a tasty blend, Jaune." His partner recommended, trying it herself once. Her face was to be placed on the record holder bulletin, but she requested not to do so.

As the group paid and sat outside to wait for their orders, they spotted a familiar face casually walking the streets – the monkey faunus from the docks. He apparently saw them too since he waved to them and walked to their table.

"Hey man." He nodded to the person he tumbled into. "Great seeing you again."

"Hi. Nice seeing you too." Jaune returned awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

"Would you like to join us for a drink?" Ren aided his leader, offering the faunus a seat.

"I'd love to." The blonde faunus smiled, propping himself between Ren and Nora. "I'm not intruding on your guys' date, am I?"

"It's not a date. This is just a team bonding time." Jaune waved off, not noticing Pyrrha's blush. The other three with them noticed though.

"Right." The new comer nodded, glancing at the redhead. "My name's Sun by the way. You?"

"I'm Jaune." The leader introduced himself. "That's Ren and his partner Nora. And this is my partner Pyrrha-"

"Pyrrha Nikos?" Sun gawked, getting a flinch from the redhead from how loud he said it. He had a hunch, but didn't want to say it out in case he as wrong. "Dude! You're partnered with _the_ Pyrrha Nikos? How'd that happen?"

"I… speared him to a tree." The redhead admitted, getting a giggle from the other two.

"I'm happy you did it." Jaune shrugged, patting his partner on the shoulder. "It saved my life and now we're partners."

As they all got to know each other better, Sun was happy he ran into a better crowd of people who were okay with faunus. Vacuo wasn't much on discrimination, but getting nice treatment from the start was a bit foreign when you had to prove yourself to others you deserved respect. The ship he stowed away on wasn't too keen because of what he was, but running into the team he was sitting with was better company in his opinion.

"Your drinks." A waitress came over, handing over Team JNPR's orders. For some reason, Jaune's cup came with a waiver.

"What's this for?" The blonde asked, reading the paper and seeing a spot he needed to sign.

"Just a contract you need to sign since you're taking the El Supremo challenge." Alarm bells were going off in Ren's head when the waiver was presented. Just looking at the cup in front of his leader, he swore he saw a skull form in its colorful hues.

Before the silent ninja could warn his leader of his concerns, it was too late. Jaune signed the waiver and had placed the cup to his lips with a face expecting enjoyment. After ten seconds of taking three gulps, Jaune placed the cup down with the same smile still stuck on his face.

"Jaune?" Ren asked, leaning in to see his leader's reaction. Reaching a hand over to pat him, the blonde had slumped over with his head hitting the table with a thud. From the looks of things he was convulsing and wheezing loudly like he was-

"Choking!" Sun screamed, getting behind his new friend and trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Pyrrha had gotten off her chair and was trying to put her hands into her leader's mouth to try and have him regurgitate the contents.

"Guys, you're not helping." Ren tried to say over the two. Judging by how blue Jaune was turning and how deep Pyrrha's hands were in his mouth and how hard Sun was squeezing, he could guess it wasn't the drink that was killing him. "You're making it worse!"

After getting the two off him, Ren had placed Jaune on his gut and patted hit back until whatever he had spewed out of his mouth along with some of the pancakes they had eaten. It was still amazing how the El Supremo still had it's colorful hues even when coming out. After asking the waitress what was in the drink, they found out Jaune was having an allergic reaction since it had sap from Forever Fall.

"My velvet mocha doesn't have any sap in it." Pyrrha offered her drink to him. "If you want, we could trade drinks."

"Thanks Pyr." Jaune groaned, taking a sip of his partner's cup and enjoying the content. After he had gulped it down and showed no signs of nearly dying, the group released a breath of relief they didn't know they were holding.

"You guys are headed to Beacon, right?" Sun asked after they had all finished their cups. "Think I can tag along?"

"Let me just call the Ruby to see where we'll meet up." Jaune answered, taking his scroll out to send a message. After a few minutes of waiting, he had a text back. "Hmm. Looks like they went back early without us."

After cleaning their table, the group had gone off to the Bullheads to head back to their dorms. Sun, still being new to the place didn't know where the dorms for the transferees were. Being the kind guy he was, Jaune had offered to show him around while his team headed in to rest up from the long day. Sadly, the two blondes weren't successful in finding the dorm.

"I thought you said you knew where it was." Sun said, following Jaune to the courtyard once more.

"I know I saw it. I accidentally went there once instead of my own dorm." Jaune defended himself, looking around for the building. Instead, he spotted Blake in front of the statue by herself. "Hey, there's Blake. Maybe she knows where the dorm's at."

As the two blondes ran up to Blake who had her back turned to them, they slowed down seeing her reach up to pull the bow off her head. It surprised Jaune to see two cat ears sticking from the top of her head.

"I knew you'd look good without the bow." Sun said to Blake, shocking Jaune and Blake who turned around to see the two.

"You knew she was a faunus?" He asked him before turning to Blake. "Blake, you're a faunus?"

"Jaune." She whimpered, trying to back away from him.

 **Back in the streets of Vale**

"Leave me alone Jaune." Blake snarled, trying to walk away from the blonde who was still following her. It didn't help that the monkey faunus, Sun was helping him catch up to her whenever she'd try to run away.

"Being alone is the last thing you need." He repeated her words when he had told her the same thing. "I think I understand what you meant back then. About knowing how I felt."

"What we have is different!" She spun around to show her angry face. "You were ashamed of lying your way into a school. I'm ashamed of hiding who I am."

"But at the end of it, we still hate who we saw in the mirror." He shot back in a sad tone, slowly taking a step forward. "Blake, I'll admit I don't know what it's like to be a faunus. But I know what it's like lying and keeping secrets - especially from friends."

By the time Jaune had gotten closer to her, he was relieved that she didn't run away again. She still refused to look him in the eye, but this was progress. "Why don't you tell me what happened? Start from the beginning."

 **Minutes later**

After finding a table for the three, Blake had told of what happened after Weiss had ran off to chase after Sun. There was an argument of how Weiss was still badmouthing faunus despite what Jaune and Ren had told her about choices and possibilities. Both blondes shared a look with each other after she had finished.

"I don't really know this Weiss girl, but she doesn't sound that nice." Sun stated his opinion. "Was she the one with the white hair?"

"Yup." Jaune confirmed.

"Looked like an ice queen." He nodded, hand on his chin.

"She's not _all_ bad." The blonde knight tried to defend her. "She can be mean but she's nice, I think. She's just not that honest in showing it."

"Jaune, you should head back to Beacon." Blake butted in between the two. "Your team will be worried about you."

"What about you Blake? Aren't you coming back?" He asked back, concern in his voice.

"I'm not coming back." She sighed, sadness in her tone. "I'm not wanted there."

Both males shared a glance with one another once more. Sun, not being that close to Blake, motioned for Jaune to say something seeing as he was closer to her than him.

"I'd want you back." He said, the first thing on his mind. "And not just me. So would my team."

"But not my team, Jaune." She wasn't going to cry, but the hurt in her voice was clear it was getting there. "They hate me."

"For being a faunus?" He asked, getting a nod from her. "Blake, Ruby and I are friends with Velvet. You know. The rabbit faunus in our history class. And Yang's not the kind of person to be racist. Weiss… She'll come around. Probably. She did with me."

"She rammed your head into a tempered mirror before agreeing to help you." She pointed out, getting a nervous laugh out of him and Sun wincing at the thought of that happening to him.

"That's just me." He waved off, trying to find something to help bring Blake back to Beacon. "Besides, she's just mad at the White Fang."

There was an awkward silence between the three with the only sounds being the people walking the streets.

"I'm not going back." Jaune sighed as he took his scroll out. It looked like he was staying the night in Vale.

 **JNPR Room**

"Today was a lot of fun." Nora jumped on the bed, getting rid of the energy from her drink and pancakes.

"Indeed it was." Ren nodded, taking his picture of the team to place in his album. Pyrrha and Jaune had taken the shots of just the two of them while he and Nora got the group shots.

"Our leader sure is taking his time." The bubbly girl said, landing next to Pyrrha who was staring at the picture of her and Jaune smiling together. "You think he got lost showing Sun around?"

"Nora." Ren was about to rebuke her, but the thought was plausible. He did end up in the transferee's dorms once. "He has his scroll with him, right?"

At that moment, Pyrrha's scroll beeped with a message from Jaune. After hearing the redhead gasp, the two huddled to her side to see what the message was.

 **Jaune:** _Hey Pyr, I'm going to be staying the night in Vale for a bit. Some stuff happened with Blake, and she needs a friend right now. Don't worry, things will be okay. Just keep an eye on team RWBY. I cant go into specifics, but I promise things will be fine._

"That's foreboding." Ren stated the obvious, turning to the door where the other team was. "You don't suppose this has anything to do with what happened this morning, do you?"

"Let's hope Jaune knows what he's doing." Pyrrha said, having faith in her partner. "For now, let's do as he says and keep an eye on Ruby's team. I have a feeling it has something to do between Weiss and Blake."

As the three prepared themselves for sleep, the team across from them was in a similar state of unease.

 **The next two days**

So getting Blake to come back to Beacon wasn't going as easy as Jaune thought it would be. Pyrrha was constantly texting him on his status and his whereabouts. With Blake close by giving him pleading eyes not to say where they were he couldn't tell in specifics with how desperate the cat faunus was looking at him.

The team took to his request and had kept their eyes on Blake's team. From what they could report, Weiss hadn't taken to Blake being a faunus as well as they had hoped. They were doing what they could to find their runaway teammate, but since Blake was still with Jaune and Sun, it was obvious they hadn't found her.

"Jaune, I'm worried for the both of you." Pyrrha said over the scroll with Ren and Nora close by. "Team RWBY is still searching and it looks like they're falling apart."

" _I know, Pyr."_ Jaune's voice said over the line. _"I'm worried too. Things aren't going so well on my end either. I think I'm making some progress in convincing her to come back, but not so much."_

"At least tell me you guys are safe." She had no doubt they were, but she just wanted to hear him say it. "Have you guys even found a place to sleep? What about lien to buy food?"

" _We're fine."_ She sighed as he said that. _"I'm not going to say where we're staying, but it comes with it's own catering. It's not Beacon, but its still good."_

"How long do you think this is going to last?" Nora asked, edging closer to speak into the scroll.

" _Truthfully, I don't know guys."_ They could hear the tire in his voice. _"I know it's hard, but Blake needs a friend right now. No offense Sun."_

" _None taken."_ They heard their new friend shrug on the other line. It comforted them knowing it wasn't just the two friends alone. From what they could tell, Sun was a nice guy and seemed dependable.

"Can't you come back for a bit though?" Pyrrha asked, missing her leader not being with them.

" _Pyr, I told you. Blake needs a friend right now."_ Before she could say anything, he had continued. _"And I know what she's going through. I want to come back to you guys - I really do. But I don't want her going through the same thing I did back then."_

The team knew what he was talking about. Understanding what he meant, Pyrrha relented despite wanting him to come back. For some reason, he just kept giving her new reasons for falling for him.

"Just stay safe." She said, getting a laugh in return before hanging up.

 **With Jaune and Sun**

"You're team really cares about you." Sun commented, holding a cup of coffee with his tail.

"Yeah." The other blonde smiled, swirling his cup. "They're awesome."

While Jaune was talking with his team, Blake was listening in and looking at him with envy. A part of her wished she was in his team instead. Maybe if she was, she wouldn't have had to hide her ears from public. Maybe she'd be a lot closer to them than with her own team.

"What do you guys know about the White Fang?" She asked all of a sudden, getting them to look at her.

"She speaks." Sun raised his hands in the air. "For the last two days it's been nothing but small talk and glaring at us."

"Be serious." She told him, sitting up straighter. "So tell me what you know."

"Just the stuff you told me the other day." Jaune shrugged, getting a nod from her.

"Stupid holier-than-thou creeps who use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks if you ask me." The blonde faunus said, getting an awkward stare from Jaune and a small glare from Blake.

"I used to be in the White Fang." The two were not ready for a bomb like that. Turning to Sun, Jaune felt little happy seeing someone else on the end of the awkward stick.

"How long?" The only human with them asked, getting a silent thank you from Sun.

"About almost all my life." She started. "Back then, we were different. We were supposed to be a symbol of peace. But after so much discrimination and attacks, we turned to organized attacks. A few of us didn't agree, but the worst part was – it was working. We were being treated equally, but not out of respect but fear. So I left."

"Blake." Jaune whispered, imagining all she had to do.

"It's why I came to Beacon. To get a new start away from my past and atone for my sins." She continued. "But now my team knows and…"

"You know Yang and Ruby are worried." The blonde knight said, hoping to change her mind.

"I know." The cat faunus sighed, feeling a little better knowing part of her team cared. "But I can't go back - not yet."

"So what's the plan?" Sun asked, getting up from his chair.

"People think the White Fang are doing these robberies." She told them. "I need to prove they're innocence. They've done a lot of wrong, but nothing like this. They've never needed so much dust before."

"What if they did?" The monkey faunus told her, getting a face in return. "I mean the only way to prove they _didn't_ do it is to go to the place they'd go to for the dust and _not_ see them do it."

The two students from Beacon shared a glance with each other as they tried to make sense of what their new friend had just said.

"Did he tell us to go to a robbery and turn a blind eye?" Jaune asked, misinterpreting Sun's explanation and getting shrug from Blake.

"No." Sun shook his head. "We'll go to where the dust is, and prove the White Fang aren't doing anything by not finding them there."

"Now that made better sense." The other blonde nodded, getting a two-finger point in return.

"Where do we go?" Blake asked, agreeing with the plan.

"I overheard some guys talking about a huge shipment down at the docks coming from Atlas." The blonde faunus shared, holding a hand to Jaune before he could speak. "Before you ask: It's Atlas. That huge."

"I was going to ask if I should tell my team." The other boy pouted, turning to Blake as soon as she glared at him. "It might not be the White Fang, but if there is a robbery we'll need the back up just in case."

"Smart." Sun patted him on the back. "That's why you're a leader."

"Make the call." Blake relented, seeing nothing wrong with it.

"Blake." He said, pulling his scroll out. "If we do this, will you come back to Beacon?"

"Just make the call Jaune." She replied, not answering his question.

 **Nighttime**

 **Docks**

The three were hiding in the shadows as they waited for nothing. Jaune was down below while the two faunus were high atop a crate looking over the area.

" _Anything on your end?"_ Sun asked Jaune on his scroll.

"Nothing." Jaune answered, peeking from a corner. "Looks like the White Fang aren't here. See Blake? We can go back."

Just as he said that, an airship had swooped in. Ducking back into his hiding spot, Jaune cursed his luck when he saw a bunch of faunus in masks descending down. The emblem on the side of the aircraft was enough to make any hope Blake had disappear.

"I had a feeling they were behind this." The cat faunus whispered in despair. "I just didn't want to believe it."

Looking down below, Blake observed as the grunts went on their way stealing dust shipments. Being the only friend with her on the crate, Sun placed a comforting hand on her back to console her. Looking down, he eyed the spot where his other friend was hiding and held a breath as a grunt had passed it by. The two were safe up there, but the blonde knight was nearly out in the open.

"It can't be." Blake muttered, seeing someone else with the radical group.

"Come on." A flamboyant voice ordered the group. "Let's get a move on people. So hard to find good help these days."

"Torchwick?" Blake scowled, confusion flooding her mind. "This doesn't make sense."

"Blake, I think this makes some sen-" The monkey faunus' words went on deaf ears as she had jumped down to attack the orange haired crook. "Dangit!"

Jaune was safe in his hiding space behind a steel drum. It was a good thing he remembered about faunus' nightvision or else he would have been caught by the grunt that had passed him. Just as he was about to try and sneak off though, he saw Blake jump down from her hiding place to take the Torhcwick guy hostage.

"Dammit Blake." He cursed, seeing all guns pointed to her now.

"Brothers of the White Fang." She shouted to all of them. "Why are you aiding this criminal?"

"Haven't you heard kitty?" Torchwick grunted, shifting a bit so Blake's sword wasn't digging into his neck. "Me and the White Fang or on a little business venture together."

Placing his cane between them, he fired a shot that separated the two. After getting up and dusting himself off, Roman turned to the grunts not doing anything and pointed to Blake. "Well? Get her."

After saying that, the grunts had rushed to fight her but fell as Sun had jumped on their heads to stand in front of Blake.

"Leave her alone." He threatened the group and Roman.

After recovering, Blake had shot forth to attack Roman with Sun backing her up. Still in his hiding spot, Jaune looked over the area to try and think of a better way to thin out the numbers. With all the Fang members distracted by the two faunus, there was little to no attention on him as he formed a crazy plan. Dashing to the cranes, he climbed to the controls and looked at all the controls in front of him.

"This is going to suck." He muttered, pressing a button and wincing as the crane slammed down near his two friends. "Sorry!"

The glare Blake was giving him after recovering was scathing at most. Luckily, she had Roman to use as an outlet for her anger. Unluckily, his actions got the attention of the rest of the grunts who were now aiming their guns at him.

"Come on you stupid machine!" Jaune growled, trying to find the controls for turning. After jolting a bit from pulling a lever, he whooped as he found the left and right control.

What happened next was the blonde knight swinging at the airship hovering above his friends and taking dust shipments. All grunts were now focused on him as he took out their means of escape. After taking down three ships though, the crane couldn't handle the abuse from all the gunfire and had short-circuited. Now a complete sitting duck, Jaune's only means of escape was to jump out of the crane and hoped his aura could save him from a high drop.

"Geronimo!" He shouted, taking a leap of faith out of the control panel with eyes shut from wind blasting him in the face.

As he was falling, he felt himself slowing down a bit before he was caught in someone's arms. Opening his eyes he was met with the beautiful emerald eyes of his partner staring back at him with joy and panic on her face. Around them, Nora and Ren were dispatching the now small number of grunts that were shooting at him.

"My hero." He said weakly, pulling her into a hug.

Whatever scolding Pyrrha was going to give him was quelled after he had hugged her. Her partner was fine and that's what mattered. She'd get angry with him later for doing something stupid and nearly giving her a heart attack – but for now, they needed to save Blake and Sun.

"What do you have to say for yourself, young man?" Nora giggled after bounding up to him and Pyrrha. Ren was close behind giving him a small smile.

"Lets go help the others first." He said seriously, running ahead of them to see Sun about to get shot in the face.

"Hey!" Another familiar voice shouted from high up some crates.

Seeing Ruby with a girl he had never met before, Jaune saw even Roman had been distracted. Taking this chance, he had rushed forward and tackled the criminal off his friend with a nice shoulder tackle and slammed him into steel.

"You kids keep popping up like flies." Roman grunted, pushing Jaune away. Looking him over, the man in eyeliner laughed at what he saw. "Well aren't you something that popped out of the storybooks. Take to heart kid, knights were two decades ago."

What happened next was the ass end kicking of an ass kicking. While Jaune had improved, it didn't prove much when he fought someone who didn't know the meaning of fair play. If not for his friends coming in to aid him before things could get serious, the blonde would have lost his entire aura.

"Penny!" Ruby shouted to her new friend jumping down to save them.

The group watched as the girl dispatched the remaining grunts and Roman with swords sticking from her back. By the time Roman was down to only one airship left, he had escaped in a confusing flash that baffled the group standing in ruin. Before he left though he had shouted one message to the person he beat down the easiest.

"Another bit of advice boy wonder." The thief shouted to Jaune, tipping his hat before he disappeared. "There's no such thing as a fair fight."

Whether it was a taunt of not, Jaune took note of it after getting beaten so easily while his friends were able to do better. The only time he had been useful was when he snuck to hit down ships with the crane. He tried to copy Yang's way, but it didn't do much.

 **Minutes later**

After the feds had arrived, the group were currenty having their wounds treated. It wasn't much since the only ones to get hurt were the three who had been staking out the docks on the first place. Ruby was looking over Blake and the rest of team JNPR were asking their leader questions and in his partner's case, scolding him now that they were out of danger. All the while Sun was watching the whole thing with a smirk while Penny was nowhere to be seen.

"You jumped out of a hundred foot crane!" The redhead berated into him. "What were you even thinking? What if I wasn't there to catch you?"

"You jumped out of a crane?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes. "So cool."

All Jaune could do was laugh nervously while turning to anyone to save him from his partner. It wasn't doing so good when all were looking elsewhere but him except Ruby.

"I had a plan." He said weakly, not looking her directly in the eye. "Like eighty percent of a plan. Falling was part of it."

"And the landing?" Blake asked, accidentally adding fuel to Pyrrha's flame.

"I didn't say it was a _good_ plan." He pouted, feeling Pyrrha grip his shoulder too tightly.

Jaune was saved from a tongue lashing the moment Weiss and Yang had appeared. Seeing Blake not running away, he signaled for his team to give the whole team RWBY some privacy. Watching from a distance, the team could guess what the heiress was saying to the cat faunus based on body language. After she was done with her, Weiss' soft glare had hardened as it locked on Jaune and Sun.

"Despite my thoughts on either of you." She started, the usual snark in her tone. "I'm thankful you were there to keep her safe. And Jaune."

"Yes?" He answered, looking her in the eye uneasily.

"The next time she does run away and you're with her." Her tone going softer. "Tell her team first so we wont have to worry so much."

After saying her piece and giving Sun and baleful glare, she walked off to stand with the others.

"I told you she's not all that bad." He nudged Sun.

"She's still an ice queen, though." The monkey faunus said, staring at the group. It was the first time he saw Blake truly smiling. "It's been fun man, but I gotta run. I still haven't found my dorm yet."

This time, it was Ren who offered to escort him to the transferee dorms with Nora following close behind. This just left Jaune and Pyrrha by themselves as they watched them all go. Turning to her partner, she saw him giving her a toothy smile.

"What am I going to do with you?" She sighed with a smile, taking his hand in hers to bring back to the dorms. It had been a long day and they all needed their rest. Tomorrow was going to be new day.

 **END**

 **AN: And that's Blake's chapter. I felt I made Pyrrha too motherly in this chapter, but then again she does seem the type. Plus with the whole team now getting closer, I think she'd feel more comfortable to open up all her feelings. (Her non romantics ones to be more precise.)**

 **We never really got to see Jaune and Sun interact with one another that much, but I think they'd automatically be that friendly with one another. One guy is chill while the other is dorky and kind. It kinda works.**

 **(Looks into scope of sniper rifle) I feel it. The yaoi shippers are hiding somewhere. My nonexistent beard of manliness senses it in the winds. All these banners before me and they're hiding between them.**

 **On a serious note, I'm thinking of changing the rating to M. No there wont be any lemons. This sight has too many of those. Just implied sex. PUT THOSE ERO BANNERS DOWN!**

 **So recently I'm playing Pokemon Sun. I like the grass starter, but I feel more inclined to the fire cat. It's a lot of fun since I don't have to get dumb HMs that stick forever until I get heartscales and move deleting. Plus when I play it on nuzlocke, I get more luck when I found useful pokemon on the first try.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Hey all readers. Back at ya with another chapter. If you read the last chapter, then you might have a prediction of what'll happen in this. More character growth and more complications.**

 **The more I look at teams RWBY and JNPR, the more I see similarities in problems for each. The teams have their own celebrity (Pyrrha + Weiss), their hyper ball of energy (Nora + Ruby), the insecure and unsure (Blake + Jaune), and the surprising voice of reason (Yang + Ren.)**

 **But enough of that, you came here to read a story.**

 **Chapter 6:** Stress and Relief

With the teams back together and conflicts resolved, Ren thought things would be back to normal. Much to his dismay, things weren't exactly the same as he and his partner had hoped for. It had been days since the incident at the docks and the two teams were going back to their sense of normalcy. But underneath it all, three of the eight friends were in inner conflict. Blake had taken the White Fang's involvement in the dust robberies hard as she buried herself in constant research of their movements. She was a bit more social with her team now, but she was lacking any proper sleep by how tired she was whenever they had met up. The bags under her eyes and the dark rings showing were proof along with how dazed she was as she walked the halls. The ninja even suspected she hasn't even taken a proper bath.

The same could be said for his leader too. Lately the blonde has been coming in later than usual and looking extremely tired and tense. While not looking half as dead as Blake, Ren had a suspicion Jaune hasn't taken proper care of his hygiene by how oily and rustled his hair was becoming. He acted like things were normal around them, but every time he'd come back to the dorms he'd be talking in his sleep and tossing around. At one point, he had even attacked Nora after she tried to poke him awake thinking he was in a nightmare. He had apologized profusely and was forgiven, but the team was starting to worry about him more. He and Pyrrha tried asking Team RWBY if they've noticed anything, but they were worrying about their own teammate to see any differences in the blonde knight. Ren had a sneaking suspicion there was something going on between the cat and the knight – and it wasn't something healthy. For now though, he'd let Jaune tell him in time. Or until Pyrrha confronted him. The stress was probably getting to her the most with how she was eyeing him.

 **Training Room**

Pyrrha was walking to the training room to have a go at the training drones and to let off some steam. Getting close, she heard heavy hitting inside meaning someone was using the room. Taking a peek, Pyrrha saw it was her partner going against a training bot. Unlike his usual stance where he'd have his shield out, he placed it on his back while open and his sword in his dominant hand. Attacking the drone, she saw him move differently from how he usually fought in class. He was crouched a bit lower than usual and he was dancing on his toes as he moved around the drone. Almost similar to how a knife fighter would move around.

As the drone lunged at him, Jaune rolled out of the way with his shield acting as a spring for his back. After getting up, he used the motion to swing his sword only to have it caught in the bot's hand. The redhead sighed quietly thinking it was over, but then the blonde kicked one of the legs off balance and let his weapon go to aim some quick blows to the head before grabbing the bot by the neck and pulling it for knee. The sound was loud and echoed through the room showing how heavy the force was. After letting go, the bot had dropped to the ground with Jaune's scroll beeping to an ended session.

 **56.7 secs**

"One more time." He huffed, wiping his sweating forehead. Picking his sword back up, he got into place and set the training bot up.

After getting his butt handed to him by Roman, Jaune had gone into overdrive to get his skill set up. Training with team RWBY had ceased for a bit with Blake being the team's concern. He didn't fault them for it, but it just meant he'd have to go with what they had taught him so far and mix it from there. He still meets up with Ruby for strategy talks and Blake was still helping him with his swordsmanship and tutoring. Part of him thinks the latter does it to get her mind straight and let off some steam.

Currently, Jaune was trying to learn how to fight dirty. Roman may have been a sleaze ball, but he was right. The blonde leader was being a naïve kid thinking there were rules to follow. It was the same with Weiss and the others. He'd hold back thinking too much was bad while being concerned for his opponent when there was still a match going on. Only the arrogant would say they'd win playing fair – that only meant the person they were fighting wasn't that good. And right now, Jaune knows he needed to get good.

" **Begin."** After hearing the go, Jaune rushed in and jumped to the bot.

Pyrrha continued to watch from her hiding spot as Jaune fought once more. He's improved a lot, but seeing his tactics was another. He was still using wasted movement and was using way too much force than needed. It was clear he was frustrated, and that was taking a toll on his stamina. She couldn't disagree that using his emotions was a bad thing since it fueled his strength, but the way he was using it was doing him more harm than good. After watching him slam his sword into the bot, she saw his grip break from it. The screen showed his time once more.

 **42.8 secs**

The champion was astounded of how well he was progressing, but at the same time she was still concerned for her partner. His face didn't show any signs of happiness at the small progression. She could see it wasn't enough for him since he still had his brows narrowed and his jaw clenched.

"One more." He breathed out, much to her disbelief. Taking her scroll out and checking his aura levels, he was now bordering into the yellow and still dropping. For his own good, she'd have to stop him.

"That should be enough Jaune." She made herself known, stopping him before he could start the training once more. "It wouldn't do for you to push yourself too hard."

"Pyrrha." He choked on his breath, not knowing she was watching. "How much did you see?"

"Enough to know you're tired." She smiled, walking up to him to grasp his arm. She frowned as she squeezed it and found it still tense. From how hard he was breathing with the tenseness, she could guess he was now in hypertension. "Why don't you sit down for a bit? I'd like to try using the training bot too."

Feeling the loss of energy getting to him, Jaune was guided to a seat and watched as Pyrrha trained. He marveled at how she moved. There were no wasted movements with her and she did things so beautifully it was like looking at a whole new kind of dance. Watching her throw her shield at the bot and seeing it slam hard, it gave him an idea to use himself some time.

 **10.4 secs**

And she had gotten it done in such a short time. That was his partner for him – always at the top of things. Clapping softly at her performance, she giggled and gave a mock bow as if she was putting on a show. It was amazing how well they had gotten closer. He'd never say it to her, but the way she'd talk to him before was so stiff like she had to calculate her words before saying them. It was like he was talking to a robot that didn't know the right words. But now here they were easily laughing and opening up to each other. The way she had gotten mad at him at the docks was proof they were much more comfortable with one another now.

"How did I do?" She asked, looking at him with eyes sparkling.

"I give you a 10 for time, but it needs more cowbell." He joked, getting a giggle out of her once more.

Taking a seat next to him, Pyrrha looked over her partner as he tried to relax. She could tell he was still tense, but the way he was breathing showed he was calming down. The face he made while fighting wasn't really something she was used to seeing him make. It was pure anger and frustration as he had been fighting. Going away from his face, she saw he was now filling out his clothes with how tight they were becoming – mostly in the arms and chest.

"So how did I do?" He asked her suddenly, hoping to get her opinion.

"You did fine Jaune." The redhead said, remembering his performance. "You've improved so much lately I think you'd have an easier time in Combat Class now."

"But?" Jaune could tell there was something she wasn't telling her.

"You're wasting too much energy." She admitted, hoping he would take it well. "It's easy to see you're letting your anger get to you and it's draining your energy faster than you think."

"Any advice for that?" He asked, not knowing how to fix it himself.

"I'm not sure Jaune." She shook her head; unhappy she couldn't help him more. "Our fighting styles are so different. I have my ways to defend and attack from all ranges, but you're only means is close combat."

"With your style you can control the battlefield." He nodded, getting what she was saying. "It's like you have the answer to whatever someone throws your way."

"Almost." She said, showing humility. "Even I have trouble with some opponents. But going back to you, I can't deny you get stronger when angry – but I think you work better when calm too."

"So I need to find a way to be angry, but calm at the same time." He mused, thinking on it. "So like a cold rage?"

"I think that's one way of putting it." She agreed. "Or a tranquil fury."

"Thanks Pyr." The leader said, wrapping an arm around her. "You're the best."

"I've been told so." She smiled, making a sour face later after getting a whiff of him. "And you need to take a bath."

"So I stink, do I?" He teased, inching closer to her. "I don't smell anything. Maybe you're just imagining things."

"No!" She giggled, getting up to run away from him. "Jaune, you really stink."

"Come here then." He laughed, chasing her around the room.

Unknown to the two, a certain person was observing the blonde's performance the moment he had entered the training room. Looking on a scroll, there were shots of him taking down the abused bot in different manners. Some were by stabs while it was down, others with a stomp, and one with the bot's head being repeatedly slammed into the hard ground. "Interesting."

 **Cafeteria**

After taking a quick shower and waiting for his partner to finish, Jaune and Pyrrha had met up with the others where Ruby was waiting excitedly with a sketchpad in hand. Pyrrha still didn't know about team RWBY helping Jaune train, but she was aware of the two leaders meeting up to come up with team attack moves together. There have been a few times where Jaune would come back moaning of how Ruby wouldn't let him have a name for an attack.

"Hey Jaune!" She waved excitedly, standing from her seat. "I've thought of this awesome move for Weiss and Blake. I need your opinion on it."

As the two leaders sat down to talk, Pyrrha sat across watching them with interest. Part of her was still uneasy about Yang's chat about the little girl having a crush on her leader. She can admit to herself that she'd be jealous and hurt if Jaune chose Ruby over her, but if the blonde still acted like nothing was different with her and the team she'd still be happy. In the end though – it would be Jaune's choice on who he wanted to date. It could be Ruby, it could be her, or it could be another girl neither of them has ever met.

"Arkos!" Her leader said with a finger in the air.

"Lame Jaune." Ruby said with a raspberry at the end.

"What?" He said affronted. Turning to Pyrrha, he asked her on her opinion. "Pyrrha, you think Arkos is good, right?"

"Uh, yes?" Truthfully the champion didn't know what she was agreeing to. What even was Arkos? Seeing the two continue to talk animatedly, she thought she had best be off. "I'll be heading to the dorm Jaune."

"Okay Pyrrha." He waved before turning back to Ruby. "So what name have you thought for Blake and Weiss?"

"Checkmate." She said with a finger point and a wink. She got one in return meaning it was a keeper. "Since you agree, I is smart."

After wrapping things up and seeing the time had gone by, the two had gotten up to leave. Just as they were about to separate though, Ruby had stopped Jaune to have a serious word with him. She was initially going to talk to him about it when he had arrived, but with Pyrrha close by she held back.

"Jaune?" She said, shifting her feet with eyes shimmering. "I know we've gotten close as friends. And I'm happy we're helping one another out. There's something that's bothering me and I want your help."

"What is it Rubes?" He asked, turning to face her completely.

"I want you." She started slowly. "To talk with Blake. Ever since the docks, she's been holing herself up and its bothering us. We all can tell she's not sleeping right, and there are times we don't even see her come in at night."

"But you see her." She continued. "Despite everything she still takes some time to help you and train you. So if you get the chance, can you please talk to her?"

This was news to Jaune. He's felt Blake wasn't all there with him, but he thought she was just angry about the crane incident. To hear it was happening with her team too was a surprise. He thought they had already patched thing up.

"We'll be doing sword training the day after tomorrow." He said, making a plan in mind. "I'll try my best."

"Thank you Jaune." She said, wrapping her arms around him.

After getting a pat on the head and leaving to their dorms, Ruby smiled as she dared hope. Getting to the dorm room, she was met with her sister once more giving her a toothy smile that could split her face. By now, she and Weiss had gotten used to this.

"I'm not going to say anything." The reaper rolled her eyes, knowing what was on her sister's mind.

"No need." The busty blonde said in a too sweet tone. "Because I was there for a bit to see the hug you gave him."

Weiss had turned her head the moment the brawler said that. Walking up to her, she was shown a photo of Ruby wrapping her arms around the blonde knight with his hand on her head with a small smile of his own.

"H-how? Why?" The reaper blushed at how the angle of the shot was taken. Even the lighting made it seem like it was more than two friends. "That was taken out of context! This goes against my right of privacy!"

"This _does_ fuel the fact you have feelings for the dunce." Weiss muttered, never taking her eyes off the picture.

"Not you too Weiss!" The leader cried at her partner's betrayal.

As the leader argued with her sister and partner, they failed to notice a cat faunus on the bed looking at them with tire and anger in her eyes.

' _How can they relax after everything that has happened?'_ She thought angrily, fists clenching tightly. _'The White Fang are here and they've been causing a ruckus, but no one seems to be doing anything!'_

Blake knew she was obsessing over something that wasn't in her complete control. She knew getting angry wouldn't help any of them. It just pissed her off how she felt like she was the only one thinking of what was going on and that no one else was doing anything about it. So if no one was going to fix the problem, then she'd take it upon herself to solve it even if it was on her own.

 **The next day**

"Guys, is it me or have my clothes shrunk?" Jaune asked as he and his team were walking to class with Team RWBY. He had to open up his shirt a few buttons and was constantly pulling on his sleeves to stop them from digging into his sides. It wasn't doing much though since it would always ride up and chafe him.

"Your clothes haven't shrunk Jaune." Ren pointed out. "You've bulked up."

"You didn't think with eating all that protein and exercising your clothes would still fit properly, did you?" Pyrrha asked, watching as he had to open his vest and coat to see if it would alleviate the chafing. Sadly it didn't.

"The same goes for my hoodie and onesie." He groaned, getting irritated by the uncomfortable feeling. "They're still a little loose, but I think they're getting tighter. Think I should swap them out for a size bigger?"

"I'd say burn that abomination of a sleepwear and change altogether." Weiss told her opinion, getting a silent agreement from Pyrrha. The sooner the cereal bunny was gone, the happier the redhead would be.

"I can't really get any new clothes now, so I guess it'll be on the weekend." The blonde sighed, knowing he'd have to live with the tight uniform until then.

"If you want, I know this nice clothing store that gives affordable prices." His partner told him. "We could go there and get you a new set."

"How affordable are we talking?" He asked, feeling skeptical. Jaune wasn't one to shoot down a good offer, but he's learnt some things are too good to be true. Not all prices were 'affordable' as some might think.

"About thirty lien and below. The lowest I saw was fifteen." She answered, hoping he'd say yes to going.

"That settles it, we're going to Vale tonight." He declared, pulling on his sleeve once more after it dug in again.

"What happened to going on the weekend?" Ren asked, finding inconsistency in Jaune's declaration.

"I can't wait that long." He said with a forced smile.

For the remainder of classes, Jaune had suffered as he tried to concentrate on the lectures and the lectures the professors were giving. By lunchtime, he found out the school had a store for selling school uniforms the whole time from Sky of all people - and the store had his size for the uniform. The blonde made a mental note to explore the whole grounds of Beacon the next time he had the chance. He was tired of not knowing the school had something he needed until he really needed it.

 **Combat Class**

"Jaune Arc." Goodwitch called him over to the arena. "Against Weiss Schnee."

This was a surprise matchup for everyone in the class attending. The blonde disciplinarian would always pair up people to fight if they were thought to be on the same skill level. For most of the class Jaune would fight others like team CRDL while Weiss would fight her team along with the rest of team JNPR. Either the teacher thought Jaune had improved enough to go against someone else, or Weiss had slacked off to drop her standing.

"Please go to the locker room to change into combat gear." She instructed the two as usual.

Glancing at one another, Jaune saw the heiress nodding to him with a serious gaze in her eyes. It was clear she didn't want him to do the same mistake he had done in the gym. He nodded, learning his lesson – if he was going to fight her, he'd hold nothing back.

Getting in the locker rooms, the blonde groaned as he tried to stretch his hoodie to stop from constricting him. He was losing free movement by how tight it was and it was impeding his warm-up stretching. The last thing he needed was giving Weiss an excuse that his movements were impaired by a silly hoodie. Taking the thing off, he looked at his armor and saw the straps holding it were adjustable. Getting a thought into his head, he mulled over his choices for a dew seconds before deciding.

"Can't be helped." He muttered, looking at the rabbit staring back at him.

 **Up in the stands**

"Man, what is taking Jaune so long?" Yang groaned, looking to the arena where Weiss was standing in ready.

"Maybe he needs to –ninja?!" Blake nearly gasped as she saw the blonde knight entering the arena.

Following her partner's gaze, Yang wolf whistled at what she was seeing. "That's no ninja Blake - that's a He-Man. I'm sinnin' tonight."

Pyrrha could only gape at what she was seeing while her teammates kept heir eyes locked on their leader's …choice of wear or lack there of. For Ruby, it was like looking at one of those old cartoons she watched with her dad on the weekend mornings when she was a kid. All the food and exercise the blonde had been doing had paid off with the muscles he was showing now. It wasn't like their friend Sun's, but they were definitely defined.

Jaune had walked out fully prepared, but had forgone his hoodie. It was a bit chilly since the room was air-conditioned, but it wasn't that cold. He had also adjusted his armor so it wouldn't cut into him if he bent or rolled around. The stares he was receiving from the class was a bit unnerving though.

"Mr. Arc?" Goodwitch called to him, her voice echoing through the class by how quiet it was. "Are you sure you're ready for combat? Nothing forgotten?"

"I'm currently experiencing a wardrobe malfunction." He informed the professor, staring at Weiss who was giving a perfect impression of a fish.

"Be sure to get it fixed then." The older blonde nodded, stepping back to get things ready. After turning on the screen to show their aura meters, she shouted for the two to begin.

The fight was going the same as it did in the gym for Weiss. Jaune had continued to dodge and step out of the way of her glyphs and thrusts while he continued to swing at her whenever he got he chance. But unlike before, his strikes were coming at her faster and had some wind following it. She was glad he wasn't holding anything back, but at the same time she was wary to be struck by one of his blows.

Using a glyph to get out of the way of a swing, she shot ice towards him to keep control of the battlefield. She could see all the missed swings he made were starting to frustrate him since he broke the wall of ice she made to separate the two. Putting a glyph underneath her, she thrust herself forward to lunge at him, but he had sidestepped out of the way and stuck a foot out to try and trip her. It worked as she had caught onto it and smacked her face into the floor. Up in the stands, she could hear her blonde teammate laughing at her mistake. She didn't have time to shout at her though, since a warning from Ruby had her roll out of the way from a foot that would have stomped on her back. She was shocked looking at the blonde knight who was the one to do it.

"How dare you!" She shouted to him, putting glyphs around them to keep him in place.

Using them to circle him at a fast pace, she used his confusion to get a few hits in. It was working as his aura level had dropped into eighty percent while she was at ninety. Continuing the tactic, she failed to see that he had gotten away from the center with shield out and placed himself in a spot he predicted her to be. Standing firm he timed it just right and pushed forward, slamming his the iron plate into the heiress' chest and stopping her attack.

Weiss groaned at the feeling from the impact. Her aura had taken the hit hard, and she was now at sixty percent. It wasn't that Jaune had hit her hard, but it was her that ran into him at such a speed. Still standing firm, she saw he was about to follow up with a swing but with one well-timed glyph charged up high she sent him flying back out of the arena. It wasn't the victory she was hoping for, but she was having a hard time breathing from that last attack.

"Winner by ring out, Weiss Schnee." Glynda announced, getting a sigh of relief from her team.

Ruby nearly panicked when she saw Jaune almost stomped on Weiss. She couldn't be mad at him since it was a match with rules to prepare for the tournament, but she thought it was still underhanded for him to do so while her back was turned. Yang was watching while giving small comments of how he was using too much strength while Blake commented how he was improving better than she expected.

"A smart tactic to use your semblance to gain control of the distance Miss Schnee." It was time for Glynda to point out their strengths and their mistakes. "Can you tell me where you made the faults in this match?"

"I underestimated my opponent from the beginning and it cost me." Weiss recited to the teacher.

"Astute, but that is not all you did." She informed the heiress who was standing firm. "Your next fault was your use of speed. Obviously you aren't used to moving at such a velocity that your vision can keep up with. From what I saw, you suffered from tunnel vision costing you those severe hits. If Mr. Arc were to have placed a sword instead of his shield, I can say you would have lost this match."

Weiss gulped at the image of running into any sharp weapon at the speed she was going. She'd take note to try and remedy that flaw in her move set. Looking over the professor's shoulder, she saw Jaune was getting up and walking to stand next to her.

"Mr. Arc, you've shown you've improved greatly this match." Goodwitch commented on his turn. "A far cry from your last matches. Your tactics and stance were smart against Weiss, and your idea to hold close to her was ideal knowing your set. Can you tell me where you went wrong?"

"I couldn't concentrate properly and got impatient." He admitted, getting a nod in return.

"Good to know you noticed." Glynda nodded at his observation. "Do try to reign in your temper. It was obvious for me to see you were trying to control it. But at the end your frustration had blinded you and you forgot all tactics. That is all you two."

"Thank you Professor Goodwitch." They both said together, walking to the lockers to get changed.

Yang listened closely to what the teacher had told them and thought of herself. Her anger was what made her stronger, but it was also a double-edged sword. Jaune couldn't handle it because he was made to be a smart fighter. But she was all strength and an all out fighter. With her semblance, she could take hits and dish them back twice as much – but that was if they could hit. Looking at Jaune swinging in frustration and anger made her think hard on her style. What would happen if she couldn't hit her target? She's never had any troubles so far, but it was bound to happen sometime.

"Yang?" Ruby pulled on her arm.

"Hm? Yeah Rubes?" The blonde brawler asked her sister.

"It's time to go." Looking around, Yang saw it was just her team and Jaune's that were waiting on her. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah." She nodded, clenching her hand a few times. "Just thinking is all?"

"Wanna share?" Jaune asked, unintentionally giving her a scapegoat.

"Just thinking what we're going to have you wear." She lied, putting an arm over him. "I enjoyed the He-Man show ladykiller, but those pants weren't flattering at all. I'm thinking assless chaps and short shorts to comment your free look."

"You're coming too?" Pyrrha asked, sounding a bit disappointed at her lost chance to be alone with her leader.

"Of course." The busty blonde nodded. "I've always wanted to style a guy, but most of my guy friends didn't want me to."

"Maybe they weren't into assless chaps and short shorts." Jaune quipped, hoping the blonde girl wasn't serious.

"Please." Yang rolled with the joke. "They didn't have the buns for it."

Sharing a laugh, the two blondes plus one redhead had went off to Vale to get the only male with them some new duds. While they were there, the two girls also thought of getting clothes of their own – with the festival on the way, they'd need to have some casual wear outside of fighting.

 **Five hours later**

 **On the way to the dorm**

Jaune sighed as the three finally got back to the dorms. Apparently, the two females with him weren't happy with his simple choice to get something close to what he wore – and they were the cheapest too. So they forced tons of clothes on him to try on. At some point, they just wanted to dress him up and enjoy the time they had doing something not violent or strenuous. Good for them, not for him.

Yang wasn't joking when she said she'd put him in assless chaps and short shorts. There was an argument where he wanted baggy jeans and she wanted to keep the tight short shorts. It got even worse when Pyrrha showed compression pants. But they made a compromise and he was given long shorts that fit his form. Pyrrha even gave him a brown vest to accentuate the look.

Now that he had his clothing set, the two had told him to sit and give his opinion on they're choice of clothing. By the end of it Yang got clothes for her and her team, and Pyrrha bought a yellow jersey. Despite how long it took, he could agree he looked and felt a lot better in his new clothes. He even got pajamas to replace his onesie. He actually wanted to get a new onesie, but the girls threatened he would never leave the place if he kept trying to buy one.

"I must admit Yang, your sense of style is very impeccable." Pyrrha chatted with the blonde brawler.

"Aww shucks P-Money. Stop." The blonde grinned embarrassedly. "You're making me blush."

"If I like my clothes, I'm sure your team will like what you picked for them." Jaune joined in, posing for them and getting giggles in return.

"We should make this a thing." Yang commented, wanting to do it again. "What was that meme on going on a long time ago? Like, 'treat yo'self' or something like that."

Agreeing to the idea, the three were met with their team minus Blake waiting for them to return. Weiss had commented how Jaune looked less like a doofus before pulling Pyrrha into their dorm to have some girl time to themselves. Now standing with just Ren and Nora, who wasn't into talking about fashion at the moment, Jaune walked in to try on his new pajamas. The ginger was disappointed it wasn't a new onesie but a blue button up with pants.

The three of them could hear giggling and laughter from team RWBY's door. Seeing as they didn't have anything school related at the moment, Jaune thought it wouldn't do for them to be left out of the fun. While talking with Yang waiting for Pyrrha to try on clothes, the brawler showed him some games that were free and easy to download into his scroll. And one game in particular had caught his attention since it was something he was denied in childhood.

"You guys wanna play Goldeneye?" He asked them, pulling out his scroll to show he had it. It wasn't long before all three sat together in a small circle back to back. "I'm going to pick James. You guys?"

"Jaws." Nora whooped, getting the biggest guy there.

"Oddjob." Ren said, getting a glare from the hammer user. "What?"

"I hate you so much right now." The girls across had their way of having fun, and the three had theirs.

Although, Jaune found out later on why the kids raged every time someone picked Oddjob. He'd have to enjoy the fun now though, because tomorrow he'd need to steel all his nerves for his talk with Blake.

 **The next day**

 **Gym**

The whole day, Jaune was thinking how to approach Blake on what was bothering her. He was so concerned about his own problems, he didn't notice her state at all even when they were together. Then again, Jaune was in a similar state until Pyrrha had talked to him. He was obsessing over his loss and trying to get better that he neglected his health and hygiene. He still needed work on his temper in battle, but it was a work in progress. If he was too calm he lost his strength, but if too angry he lost his concentration. Like Pyrrha said, he needed to find a way to balance being calm and angry.

"Are you ready?" Blake appeared out of nowhere, spooking Jaune out of his thoughts.

"Yeah." He nodded, taking his sword out.

Standing next to her, both of them practiced swinging their blades together as they usually did. Slowing down after a bit, he noticed she wasn't scolding him for doing so and was swinging away with frustration in her eyes. Whenever they would practice, the cat faunus would do the motions with the same mellow attitude she had as if it was natural. But now her swings were forceful, her breathing was like a snarl, and her eyes were piercing like she was imaging someone in front of her to hit. Was this how he looked to Pyrrha when she saw him training?

"Blake." He called to her, being ignored as she continued to swing her blade. "Blake."

Trying a few more times and ending the same, Jaune timed her next swing and caught her hand just as she was pulling back for another one. "Blake."

"What?!" This was the first time he'd ever seen her snap so loudly at anyone. Even when fighting Roman, she was serious but had her head in the game the whole time.

"You're not looking so good." He stated, trying to start carefully.

"I'm fine." She ground out, yanking her arm away. "I came here to help you train, not to relax."

Just as she was about to swing, the cat faunus felt herself being off balance and the room spinning. Her lack of sleep was catching up to her and her constant swinging had taken most of her energy. Before she could hit the floor, Jaune had caught her and laid her down gently with her head on his lap. Just from holding her shoulders, he could feel the heat radiating off her. She had a slight fever from the feel of things.

"Let me go." She mumbled, lifting a hand to swat him away. It was easily caught before it could reach his cheek. "We need to train."

"Blake, what's wrong?" The blonde asked, putting authority in his voice.

"Nothing." She growled, trying to pull herself away from him. It didn't do much since she was running on fumes now.

"Is it your team again?" He egged on, keeping her lying on his lap. "Did something happen?"

"It's nothing." She repeated, hands clenching as she felt her eyes getting heavy. She fought to stay awake though, struggling once more to get up.

"Is it the White Fang?" Jaune felt her muscles tense up a bit after he said that, so he took it that it was them. "Is this about what happened at the docks?"

Mentioning the Fang had shot a bit of adrenaline back into Blake. Jaune's hold on her was good, but using her semblance to make a clone she was able to get away. It didn't last long though since the blonde's hands had pushed through and made the clone disappear.

"This is the last time I'm helping you." She snarled at him, walking out the door.

"Blake wait!" Jaune chased after her, picking up their weapons on the way out. Catching up to her was easy since she wasn't fit enough at the moment to run. "Blake, please. Just talk to me about this. I wanna help."

"You wanna help?" She said in a sarcastic manner. "That's surprising since all you've been doing was buying clothes and playing video games with your team. I thought you were serious about training when I saw you fight the training bots nonstop until Pyrrha came, but you're just like the rest of them!"

"You were watching me? And like the rest of who?" The knight asked, finally getting somewhere with her.

"I was." She admitted, taking her scroll out to show the shots she took. "I noticed how different you were acting after the docks and I thought I could depend on you to help me out sometime. No one else seems to be taking what happened with the White Fang seriously – all they want is to pretend like it never happened. It's why I was still helping you with your work and training."

"So you've been trying to find out more about the White Fang." He summarized, getting a nod in return. "You are so stupid."

"What?" This was the first time Blake had ever heard Jaune insult someone.

"Blake, you're trying to find a group even the police are having a hard time catching." He told her in a serious tone. "What are you going to find on school computers and your scroll? And if you did find something, were you planning to go off on your own? They tried shooting at you even though you're a faunus too. What makes you think they wont do it again?"

"Well at least I tried!" She argued, stomping up to him and digging a finger into his chest. "I at least did something when no one else was."

"And what will that get you now?" The blonde shot back, getting in her face. "So you were right and you found them. What next?"

By now the two were glaring at each other so closely it was amazing sparks weren't flying. A certain someone clapping to get their attention halted their intense stare off. Turning to the source, they saw it was Ozpin sitting in front of the statue while giving them an amused smile.

"Beautiful night tonight, wouldn't you say?" He asked the two, getting them to separate from each other. "Will this be a recurring theme to see you two so close on my nightly walks?"

"H-how much did you see sir?" Blake asked, feeling heat rise to her cheeks from the insinuation.

"I was sitting here long before you two stormed over." He replied, getting shocked expressions from the two. "Care to share your problems with me? I am certified as a counselor as well as your headmaster."

Sharing a look, the two knew it wasn't a debate they could say no to. Taking a seat next to the silver haired man, they shared of their concerns and the reason of their arguments.

"I see." Ozpin nodded as they finished. "Sometimes I forget how the young see things. You're all caught up in your own world you fail to see the big picture of things."

"Sir?" Blake asked, not getting what he meant.

"Miss Belladonna, contrary to what you think, things are being done to stop the Fang." He told her, much to her surprise. "Sometimes we don't see it, but solutions are being made without our knowledge just like the problems rising. Just like how you are trying your best without letting others know what is going on, other people are doing what they can to stop what is going on."

"How do you know?" She asked, skepticism showing itself.

"I don't." He replied, shocking the two. "But it seems sensible. It's obvious that the robberies are happening. It's clear which group is taking part of it by the ones caught in the act. And now those same people who were caught are now being detained and interrogated. How can I not say something isn't being done?"

The headmaster had made a solid point. The members that were taken down were left at the docks and were taken in by the police. Sooner or later, someone would have to crack. And even if they didn't, chances were that someone would slip and say something that would lead to a hideout or a meeting zone. They've had it done before and it's possible to happen again.

"So what am I- we supposed to do?" She asked, feeling lost on things.

"Rest. Train. Study. Have fun." Ozpin told the two. "Improve yourself while in these walls and build connections. When the time comes, you'll know what to do. But for now – prepare yourselves while having a good time. This world has so little of it to give."

Nodding, Blake sat as Ozpin got up to leave. Before he was too far away, Jaune stood up to ask him something he might have the answer to.

"Sir?" He called out to him. As the headmaster turned around, Jaune hoped he knew the answer to his question. "Do you know how to be calm but angry at the same time?"

The question earned him a small chuckle from the professor. "Mr. Arc. I've never met a man, woman, or child able to do what you just asked – myself included. If you are able to do so, then please see me so I can learn to do the same."

Without anything else to say, he had walked off to find a new place to enjoy the night. The statue seemed to be occupied at the moment. With just Jaune and Blake sitting together now, there was silence as they mulled over Ozpin's words.

"I/ You-" Both stopped as they motioned for the other to go first. Rolling her eyes, Blake decided she'd take the initiative. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." He replied, turning to face her completely.

"About the whole not helping you anymore." She said a bit embarrassed. "I didn't really mean it. I actually enjoy helping you out."

"Does that mean I finally get an A?" He asked, bringing up the first joke she told him.

"You're still on that? More of an A-." She giggled before getting lightheaded. "I'm so tired."

"Are you going to sleep now?" Sleep was something Blake felt like having at the moment. She's been going online to dead leads for so long it was all getting to her.

"My team put you up to this, didn't they?" She asked, making room to lie down on her back. "Don't deny it. We were both so obsessed with what we were doing, our teams did something to try and stop us. It was Pyrrha for you and probably Ruby asking you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." The blonde admitted, watching her as she closed her eyes. "It was Pyrrha who gave me the idea of tranquil fury. But after hearing Ozpin saying how impossible it was, I think I need to find a new approach."

"Having tranquil fury and being calm and angry at the same time isn't the same." She pointed out, sleep close to claiming her. "Tranquil fury is concentrating your anger with a calm mind while the other is… the other is…"

She didn't get to finish what she was saying as sleep had already taken her. Even after poking her cheek, Jaune didn't get a rise out of her. Gently picking her up in his arms, he did his best to bring her to her room. Unlike Pyrrha who buried her head into his neck, Blake was still as he brought her to her team. Ruby and Yang must have been expecting them because they had their door open while waiting in front of it for one of them to arrive. Handing the sleeping girl over to her partner, Ruby mouthed a thank you and a short hug before quietly closing the door on him.

"So concentrating anger with a calm mind, huh?" He muttered, knowing what he'd be practicing tomorrow. It would be a good workout for the blonde, but a bad day for the training bot.

 **END**

 **AN: And that's that chapter. If you're wondering about Jaune's new outfit, Google it and you'll see. It was a scrapped idea for his outfit and I decided to use it here.**

 **I've done workouts myself and after bulking up, I was confused how my pants could fit so well but my shirts were hurting me under the pits. For those of you who have experienced it, I think you know what I mean.**

 **So Pyrrha is still giving advice and helping, but she's not coddling him as much like she did in canon. She's learning to give him space and at the same time getting used to being less like a celebrity around her team.**

 **With Blake's obsession now fixed, how will they infiltrate the White Fang meeting? You'll see.**

 **As for the difference between tranquil fury and being calm and angry at the same time, I can answer that. Ozpin meant he never met anyone who can be in a state of calm and anger. Tranquil fury is** _ **using**_ **anger while calm - while the latter is** _ **being**_ **both at the same time. That's what I think anyways.**

 **Jaune's solution is an opposite of Yang's who is a berserker. He's a strategist even in a fight and for him to try and go berserk isn't going to do him good. He tried to copy Yang and mix dirty tactics, but those two don't mix well when dirty tactics need quick wit most of the time.**

 **(Currently in one of the ships) So this is the legendary sunken Arkos. Nice to see how shippers turned it into some kind of nightclub/restaurant. No the shipping isn't confirmed. I'm just looking around and visiting all the ships to see how they differ. S.S Lancaster gave me cookies and hnngs while Knightshade gave me a nice welcome. Not that many people in there though, but I wasn't complaining on the free space.**

 **Jokes aside, next chapter it's a transition into the volume 2 with an omake.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Hey all you readers. Updating again and we are now in the volume 2. I read some of the new reviews as usual and I'm glad I'm still doing good so far. I don't know why some of you guys are posting as guests – I'm not scary, sorta. I actually enjoy doing PMs with some of you.**

 **Speaking of: Shout out to you LadyBritish! I don't know if you're reading this or not, but I'm planning on trying out the topic we talked about some time ago. Hope your laptop got fixed.**

 **In other news, after reading this one fic where the RWBY cast did a Snake Eater movie, I thought of making something similar but not exactly like the movie. The casts are all separated by their birthplace, and they're young soldiers/hunters in a cold war. Add in some betrayal, conflicting allegiances, and tons of action and drama and there's a story.**

 **And enough of that stuff, let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 7:** New Day

 **Streets of Vale**

The days of the festival were nearing and the streets were nearing it's finished preparations. Students from all over Remnant have traveled far to enjoy and participate in the tournaments. To their schools, they were the representatives to show their strength. To the shop owners of Vale, they were customers and tourists looking for a good time.

"Oops. Sorry." A girl with mint green hair apologized as she bumped into an old man getting down from his ladder.

"Hm." The man nodded, waving to her as she bowed and walked away. As the girl got farther away, her sweet smile turned into a sly smirk as she pulled out the old man's wallet.

"Give it back." A bored voice surprised her, having her drop the stolen wallet. Looking to the source of the voice, she saw it was a gray haired boy – her partner.

"He's not going to miss it." She rolled her eyes to him, picking it back up to pocket.

"We're supposed to keep the attention away from us." The boy said, joining her in her walk.

"Whatever." She said, stopping to turn to a certain store. "We're here."

Tukson's Books Store. Nodding to one another, they walked in and locked the doors as they entered. In a few minutes, the owner of the store would be taking a permanent vacation.

 **Beacon Academy**

"I'm telling you man, these guys are awesome." Sun told his partner with blue hair. "The first time I met them, their leader didn't seem much but he had my back at the docks. His team's cool too. And his partner is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Yeah right dude." The blue haired teen didn't believe. "Last time you saw a girl with short lilac hair, you thought she was Lisa Lavender and kept hounding her for a selfie."

"And this one cat faunus is awesome too. A little distant, but she's cute." Sun continued, ignoring his friend. "But don't tell anyone about the faunus stuff or about me thinking she's cute. That's a secret."

"Alright man." His partner nodded.

"No, dude. It's high-level secret. Not Neptune tells Scarlet once my back is turned secret." The monkey faunus stressed out. "Be cool."

"Dude." Neptune posed with teeth glinting.

"Fair enough." Sun nodded, opening the doors to the cafeteria to introduce his friends. What they saw while entering was a stampede of students running out with only two teams remaining.

"Ahahahahaha!" Nora laughed maniacally while standing on a tower of tables. "I'm queen of the castle!"

"Justice will be served, justice will be painful!" Ruby shouted from below with a finger pointed to the ginger mocking them. "It will delicious!"

"Yeah!" Her team cheered behind her.

"Off with their heads." Supreme Queen Nora commanded, flipping a table of watermelons to her team.

The four members of JNPR chucked the hard fruit as hard and far as they could to hit and separate the group. Once they were out of melons to throw, it was time to get into melee.

Pyrrha grabbed two baguettes and had charged in to meet Blake in the middle who was wielding linked sausages and a baguette of her own. Normally Pyrrha would have an easy time, but with Blake's body well rested and her constant training, she was having a bit of trouble against the secret cat faunus. Ren had challenged Yang using leeks while the brawler had made boxing gloves out of turkeys. It was turning one-sided in Yang's favor, but the ninja wasn't one to give up so easily with the help of Nora.

All the while Jaune and Nora had stayed back with the strategist scanning the area and Nora chucking whatever she could at the other side. Seeing them all distracted but Weiss, Jaune found his first victim. With a quick plan coming to mind, he patted his ginger teammate to grab her attention.

"Nora, I need you to get Weiss' attention." He ordered her. He got a mischievous grin in turn as the girl jumped away from their hiding spot to grab a pole and stab it into a watermelon that was still intact. "Let's hope this works."

As Nora engaged the heiress, who got a swordfish from out of somewhere, he grabbed a bunch of pies and ducked under the remaining tables to stay hidden for his plan to work. After a thrust had pushed the ginger back with a skid, he waited for Weiss to go for another lunge. The heiress was good, but against a tank like Nora, it was similar to brining a knife to a bazooka fight. He could let her finish Weiss off with a melon to the head, but what he had in mind felt more satisfying – and the opportunity was showing itself now as Weiss lunged forward once more!

"Nora, fall back!" He shouted from his hiding spot, sliding one of the pies in front of where the bubbly girl had been.

"Wha-?!" SPLAT!

Weiss had her eyes set on Jaune's teammate, she didn't notice his leg sticking out from the table until she had tripped on it and face planted into the pie placed where the pink bomber had been. "Nailed it!"

All fighting ceased after they heard Nora's laughter along with Weiss' shout of surprise. After that, the room grew into laughter after they had seen the old joke reused. Even Blake had joined in after seeing the display. The only one not laughing was the victim as she had spat out the cream covering her mouth and wiping the rest on her eyes and nose – and this was the main reason why the food fight had started in the first place. By now, she was just getting tired of a certain blonde's dirty tactics.

"Jaune!" Weiss roared, grabbing what remained of the pie to dump on his head.

This was the second time he had tripped her, and a Schnee was never one to make the same mistake twice. For him to cause her to do so made him a new target on her list right above her father and brother, but just below the White Fang. He should feel honored getting such a place since her father and brother would be an easy obstacle to take down after she graduated.

Spotting him trying to sneak in front of Ruby who had stopped tray surfing to laugh, she chucked the pie only to miss as he moved out of the way. The Schnee's partner wasn't so lucky though since she still had her eyes shut from laughing. The pie hit her in the chest and stopped the young leader's laughter. Ruby stared at Weiss in disbelief before she looked at the cream on her chest and the pie slowly sliding off her. Falling to her knees, she held her cream covered hand to her eyes and pointed her other hand to her partner.

"Betrayal!" Ruby shouted, getting a gasp from her sister as the little leader acted as if she had been fatally wounded. "How could you?"

"Ruby, no!" Yang moved to her, cradling her head in her arms.

"Yang." She coughed, closing her eyes and sounding weak. "Avenge me."

"Okay." Yang nodded while putting her down, grabbing the cream on her sister's chest and walking to Weiss.

"N-now Yang." Weiss backed up while throwing food, trying to get far from the blonde. It didn't do her good once Nora had grabbed her from behind to stop her. "We can talk about this. I'm not the enemy!"

"Hello. My name is Yang Xiao Long." The blonde said in a faux Spanish accent. "You killed my sister. Prepare for pie."

"Please Yang." Weiss tried to bargain, not wanting to get pied a third time. "Money. Clothes. Jewels. The first hot shower!"

The others were watching as they enjoyed the performance. Jaune's plan was to just pie everyone on the other team when they weren't looking, but this was better.

"Anything?" The blonde brawler asked, getting a nod in turn. "Money, clothes, jewels? Anything I ask for?"

"Anything you want!" Weiss struggled to get free from Nora. Even as she tried to kick, it didn't do well.

"I want my sister back, Ice Queen." And the cream had smacked Weiss in the face once more. The blonde's performance got applause from the audience with shouts from Nora for an encore.

"I love these guys." Sun told Neptune, who was wiping bits of food from his everywhere. He received a grumble in return. It looked like his introduction would have to wait for another day.

 **Streets of Vale**

After Goodwitch had fixed everything back into place and the students got themselves cleaned, the two teams had gone off into Vale for a good time. On their way out, Sun had caught up to them and introduced Neptune to the group. Weiss in particular took a quick liking to the blue haired boy and had offered for the two to come along with them. She was rejected though since Sun still needed to bring Neptune to their dorms.

For now, it was just the two close teams bonding together. This time, Blake was finally with them and Jaune wasn't obsessing over his training. The two had collaborated together to help Jaune learn how to acquire tranquil fury while Blake would have a sparring partner to help her get stronger. So far the blonde had results, as he was able to hold his temper even after missing so many swings. The next part was for him to concentrate without forming tunnel vision and forgetting his surroundings.

"So where do you guys want to go to first?" Ruby asked her team, getting a shrug from them.

"While you guys decide, I'm going to take my team to the bookstore." Jaune patted Ruby on the shoulder. In a blink of an eye, Blake was next to him giving him a suspicious glare.

"What book are you going to look for?" The other members of the group shared a glance by the tone she used. Jaune knew what she was asking and rolled her eyes by her suspicion.

"It's not _that_ book." He assured her, not telling what the title was since there was a crowd. "Just showing my team where it is and probably buy a comic or something."

The cat faunus was okay with his explanation, but another problem had struck inside her – the chance one of his teammates went into _that_ section of the store. If they saw _that_ and linked it with her, then she'd never be able to show her face in front of her friends. Worst of all, her team. Yang would be intolerable more than usual. Weiss would hound her on her preference in literature. And Ruby – she didn't even want to know what she would do if the little girl found out. Now that she thought it over, what would Yang do if Ruby ever found out?

"I'm going with you." She said abruptly, walking ahead of them to get to the store first.

There were no arguments from her team as they just followed after her with team JNPR close behind. As they got to the front of Tukson's Book Store, they were disappointed to see that it was closed. To the none faunus of the group it looked common, but to Blake it was suspicious. She's known the store since she had gotten to Vale and she knows for a fact that the owner wasn't one to open up late. The man may have seemed intimidating, but he was soft spoken and honest.

"Blake?" Ruby called to her, seeing the cat faunus take out a pin to pick the door lock. "Blake, stop! You're breaking and entering!"

 _click_

Straightening up, the cat ninja of RWBY opened the door. Looking inside, she saw that the books weren't even covered. That sent alarm bells off. Any respectable bookstore owner would always make sure their stocks were at least covered with a drape or something to stop the books from getting dusty and yellowing. Something was wrong, and she needed to find out. Not being able to see, Ren turned the lights on and the group saw how empty the store was.

"Is it me, or does something feel wrong?" Yang asked, looking the place over. "Hey! Sorry for intruding."

"Yang." Blake hushed her in a serious tone. "No one's here."

"So let's get out of here." Weiss called to them. "We'd be in big trouble if the owner was to come by and see we broke in while he was away."

"Yang's right though." Jaune piped in, feeling a sense of danger in the quiet building. "There's this feeling of something in the air. Something not right."

Nothing seemed out of place in the store, but something was off. In the busiest time of the year where tourists would be visiting, it didn't make sense for a store to close down. Turning to Blake, Jaune saw her analyzing everything with a critical eye. Walking over to the counter, Jaune noticed something off. Calling Blake over, he pointed to the top of the counter where there were boot marks.

"You've been here before, right?" He asked her, getting a nod. "Why would someone want to stand on here?"

"Maybe to reach something or…" Looking up, Blake saw nothing to reach for on the ceiling. Turning to the stack of books, they weren't that high for the need to climb onto the counter. Looking closer, she saw that they were skidded a bit, like- "He jumped forward. But the question is; why?"

Following the direction, they saw it pointed to the door. Pushing Ruby aside from where she was standing, Blake looked to the floor to see of any skid marks or traces of the same shoe prints. She didn't see anything, but there was a small strand of green hair on the floor.

"Someone else was here." The cat faunus informed them, putting them on high alert. "Check the register to see if anything was stolen."

Being the closest, Pyrrha had moved over to the counter and pressed the button opening the register to inform them that the money was taken. Still kneeling from her spot, Blake cursed at the thought of a robbery. Just as she was about to call it in as a simple crime, the leader of JNPR found something that they had overlooked. Calling them over, they were pointed to scratch marks on the floor and some of the shelves. The angle of it looked like someone had fallen backwards.

"Hm." Ren cupped his chin, seeing a connection.

"What is it?" Weiss asked, hearing the silent boys hum.

"Look at the direction of the footprints on the counter and the direction of the scratches." The magenta-eyed boy pointed out. "From the looks of things, if the person jumped then these marks show he was pushed back. But the question is where did the scratches come from?"

"I can answer that." Blake got their attention. "The owner may not have looked it, but he was a faunus too. What you just said confirmed that he was attacked and he tried to defend himself."

"But he didn't look like one." Jaune pointed out. "We can't just pin this as a simple hate crime. Whoever attacked the owner knew he was a faunus from the start and I doubt any human would know it just from looking."

"Maybe it was a simple robbery and he was outmatched." Weiss argued, getting into the conversation. "They came in, he defended himself, but he got unlucky."

While the group talked of the different possibilities of what could have happened, Ruby had been looking around the place for anything like blood or tracks. She didn't find anything, after going behind the counter to open a drawer, she gasped gaining everyone attention.

"Guys." She whispered, pulling out a mask they were all familiar of. "He was a White Fang member."

All eyes were now on Blake as they saw the world crashing down on her. Her mind was racing as she tried to process it all. She tried following Ozpin's advice to train and have fun, and this was the result. It seemed that no matter what she did, her past would always come back to haunt her. Feeling a hand grasp her shoulder, she saw that it was her partner looking at her with a serious gaze of her own.

"Whatever you're thinking," She started, grip tightening to not let her run. "You better include us in it too."

Turning to her other teammates and friends, she saw that they were all in on it too.

"So what do we do now?" She asked, turning to the two leaders of the teams.

"We hatch a plan." Ruby nudged Jaune, showing she needed his help.

"Let's all go back to Beacon to think this all through." The blonde leader told them. "By the time we get things straight, we'll have an idea of what we need to do."

Agreeing on the idea, the two teams had walked out of the bookstore and closed everything up. Taking one sad look at the books all abandoned, Blake swore she'd find out what happened and come back for them.

 **Dorms**

The two teams were currently in team RWBY's dorm as they tried to brainstorm on the possibilities. Currently they only knew what they saw in the store and who the owner was in a small way. They know he was a faunus and that he was White Fang. They know he owned a bookstore and was killed in there. And they know the cash was stolen. The next question was, why kill him?

"It can't be because he was a faunus or a White Fang." Ren pointed out, not seeing how someone could have figured out. "Something tells me this was an inside job. Blake, what could be a reason the group would turn on its member?"

"Treason, insubordination, or going awol." Blake listed, knowing her fate if she was caught. Thinking it over, she found a connection. "He must have planned on running away from them. They found out and weren't happy about it."

"While I was checking the counter, I saw a passport for a trip to Vacuo." Ruby supplied, helping connect the puzzle. "That could mean he was trying to get out of the group."

"Once you join, there's only one way out." The former member said, getting a few stares out of them. Feeling their stares not going away, she added. "I was able to escape, but that doesn't mean I'm safe forever."

"We'll have your backs if it comes to that." Jaune supported her, with his team agreeing with him. "Right now this shows that the Fang are planning something big if some of their members are trying to leave. It's not just about simple dust robberies anymore from the looks of things. They need it for something, and we need to figure out what it is."

"Well said, Jaune." Weiss agreed with him for once. "If we can investigate what is going on, we can give the information to the proper authorities and stop these crimes from happening."

"Well team." Ruby jumped from her bed to zip to her fellow leader. "Let's hatch a plan."

Just as the two teams were about to form groups and set locations, their scrolls had buzzed simultaneously showing the same message.

 **Please head over to the Headmaster's office.**

Looking up from her scroll, Ruby saw them staring at one another wondering what they were being called for. Something tells me Ozpin wasn't calling them over for cookies and some coffee.

 **Headmaster's Office**

Teams JNPR walked out of the elevator to see RWBY standing in front of Ozpin, Glynda, and a few officers. The elevator was too small to accommodate all of them, so they had to go by teams.

"Team JNPR." Ozpin nodded at their arrival. "Glad you could make it. The officers here are from Vale Police Force. A witness reported seeing you lot breaking and entering a bookstore that was closed for the day. The police were sent to investigate and found that money was taken from the registers."

"Sir, we didn't do it." Nora and Weiss protested loudly together.

"So if you didn't steal the money, then why break into a shop?" One of the officers asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Something was wrong when we went there." Weiss tried to be diplomatic. "Our teammate felt it was strange that a store she frequented would be closed on one of the busiest times of the year."

"So you broke in." The officer pointed out.

"The money was gone before we got there." Pyrrha supplied, being the one to check the register.

"A likely story." The policeman glared at her. Feeling his partner getting uncomfortable from the glare, Jaune stepped in front of her with head held high to stand firm. "And what do you have to say?"

"Did you guys see anything odd about the place? Find anything suspicious like scratches or footprints?"

Those questions got the attention of the staff as they were curious of what they found. Before the officer could wave Jaune's questions aside, Ozpin had halted him to talk to them.

"What did you and your friends find Mr. Arc?" He asked, voice carrying authority.

"We think the owner of the store was killed." He said briefly, getting their full attention. "There were boot marks on the counter and scratch marks on the shelves that went in a different direction. We also found a White Fang mask and a passport going to Vacuo."

"Interesting finds." The headmaster nodded, taking note of it.

"That still doesn't stop you from being accused of breaking and entering." The officer shouted, reminding them he and his partner were there. "And who's to say you didn't kill the guy yourself, take his money, and ran off?"

"We aren't killers!" Ruby argued back, not liking the accusations against them.

"Bullshit." The badge holder spat, getting a few reactions from them all. "All you hunters are the same. You get power, so you flaunt it around and think you're above the law. Well you're not above the law, you hear?"

Weiss could see now what her sister meant when she said some civilians weren't fans of hunters and huntresses. The older of the two officers was nothing but antagonizing while the young one next to him was just eyeing them cautiously – or more of her and Pyrrha to be precise. After the older officer hadn't said anything after his outburst, the whole room was quiet for a few seconds.

"Are you done?" Yang said with an exhale. It was amazing to her team how she was being calm after the lashing but she was still glaring hard at the man.

"You trying to scare me? Don't think I don't know about you." The man puffed his chest out, getting in all their faces before turning to the headmaster. "Just about most of them are on record for being at a crime scene. Miss Goldilocks here's got a record for destroying a bar and attacking civilians. And the midget and the quiet girl along with the three with Miss Invincible Girl were at the docks. I can have them placed in a cell for interrogation if I wanted."

The eight students didn't know how it had come to this. Looking over to the staff, they saw Glynda was close to popping a blood vessel with her grip tightening on her scroll. Turning to Ozpin, he was still the statue of calm and collected but just the aura around him was cold. As he took a sip from his mug and placed it down, the aura had gone away and some of them released a breath they didn't know they were holding.

"You're correct that you can take them to a cell for interrogation." He started, getting a gasp from Ruby. "But that isn't why you're here. You came here to get a reason for breaking and entering. You got it along with a confession."

Just as the officer was about to smile and pull his cuffs out, Ozpin had continued.

" _However,_ you won't be taking them into custody and you _won't_ be interrogating them any longer. _"_ The headmaster narrowed his eyes and stood up. "You have came into my school, threatened my students, and have overstepped the warrant that was given to me. I shall allow you to search their dorms for any stolen money, but that is all that will be happening. One that is done, you may leave my school."

"And when I do find stolen money, I'm pulling them out with me." The officer huffed, walking to the elevator and bumping Jaune's shoulder. It wasn't much since it hurt the older man more than the blonde. "I'll be waiting for you all to show me to your dorms."

After walking to the elevator with his young partner in tow, they went down to get started on their search. As the students looked to the faculty, they saw Glynda's glare sharpen and Ozpin massaging his temples.

"Sir." Ruby spoke, only to have a hand raised for her to stop.

"Don't Ruby." He sighed, walking away from his desk. "Exactly what was it you all thought when you broke into that store?"

"It was my fault." Blake stepped forth. "I'm the one who broke into the store and they all followed to stop me. Something felt wrong, and I took the initiative to act."

"Miss Belladonna we've talked about this before." Ozpin reminded her of the advice he gave her and Jaune.

"I know!" She snapped, before fixing herself. "I know, but something had to be done."

"The last time you and your friends got into trouble, I looked away because your actions helped in stopping a crime." The older man informed them. "But this time, you all committed a crime. This is a first and last warning. One more step out of line and you will all be expelled."

After their warning, the group had left to have their items searched. The officers showed no boundaries as they opened every desk and peeked in every page. After the young officer had tried to sneak away with some of the female's lingerie as 'evidence,' Ren had yanked the stuff out of his hands with Jaune alerting the dorms to be witnesses in case the man tried to abuse his power. With no stolen money found, the two officers were gone and out of their hair.

Back in Ruby's dorm the group had formed a circle to try and think this through more. On one hand, they could try and look around and solve a crime. On the other, if they were caught, and that was highly possible with the chance of police keeping a close eye on them, they'd be expelled from school. The question for all of them: Do or don't?

"What do you guys think?" Ruby asked, legs hugged against her chest. "Should we take this risk and go for it?"

"After seeing how lousy the police are handling things, I say we go for it." Yang huffed, losing respect for the authorities.

"There are worse things than getting expelled." Blake agreed, wanting to stop the Fang from acting whatever they were planning.

"I refuse." Weiss shook her head, getting her team's attention. "You all may have something, but I won't be going home from expulsion."

"But Weiss." Ruby tried to convince her.

"Ruby." The heiress stood her ground. "I like it here. I love my team. I l enjoy spending time with you all - even the dunce. Being here is my escape from home and I don't want to lose any if it."

"Then we'll just have to play things carefully." Jaune muttered, getting all eyes on him. "We can't go into this weapons swinging, so we have to play it safe."

"But Ozpin said we'd be expelled." Ren reminded his leader.

"He said we'd be expelled for stepping out of line." He clarified. "We were called in there because we broke into a bookstore in the middle of the day. It can't be like that or how we did things at the docks. Subtlety is the key here."

"So what do we do?" Pyrrha asked, going with her partner.

"Information." Blake answered, getting eyes on her next. "We need to find out what the White Fang are planning, and we need to know how dust is linked to their plans."

"The CCTs." Weiss mumbled, getting an idea. "If I can get my hands on the number of dust robberies and any other inconsistencies from my company, we can send it to Ozpin to have it looked into."

"I know a guy who's got dirt on just about anything." Yang supplied with a grin. "If I go and have a chat with him, we can get some info on what's happening in the city."

"And the White Fang have regular meetings and recruitments in specific areas." The cat faunus joined in the sharing. "If I can sneak in as a new member, there's a chance of finding out their plans and their next raids."

"Sounds like a plan." Jaune and Ruby nodded together.

"What do we do fearless leader?" Nora asked, getting a nod from the rest of them.

"The police are probably going to be on us if we're spotted." He mused, getting a nod from them. "We're going to need someone watching us from far points. Any volunteers?"

"I believe I'm suited for scoping the area." Pyrrha raised her hand, getting a nod in return.

"That's my field too." Ruby raised her hand high, excited have a role.

"Perfect." Jaune smiled, the plan building as they went along. "In the chance police stop us, we're going to need an alibi for being out."

"A what?" The young leader asked, getting an eye roll from her partner. "He means an excuse to tell the guards if they get in our way. You and Pyrrha wont need one if you stick to a high enough point they wont see you, but the rest of us will need something to get them off our backs."

"Why not make it a date?" The busty blonde joked, getting a scoff from the heiress.

"I refuse to say I am canoodling with the dunce." She folded her arms and sticking her nose up.

"I wasn't saying you were going with him, but if that's what you wanted." The glare Yang received from her teammate wasn't as threatening with the blush she had on her cheeks. By now, Jaune's learnt that it was more out of anger than embarrassment.

"It's not a bad idea though." The green ninja agreed with the brawler. "Being near the festival time, it's the most common thing to use if we're spotted."

"No offense Nora, but I'll be taking your boyfriend for this pretend date." Weiss told the ginger, getting a confused look in return.

"Jaune's not my boyfriend." She denied the Schnee's claim.

"I meant Ren!" Weiss waved her arms wildly.

"Ren's not my boyfriend." That got some questioning stares from all of them except Ren. "We're not together together."

"Either way, I'll be taking Ren with me." The heiress said, not wanting to be paired with Jaune. She could currently tolerate his presence and could hold a somewhat decent conversation with him, but she didn't want him thinking he could push for anything further.

"It's not unusual for a gal to go to a club alone, so I think he should go with you Blake." Yang told her partner.

"If he does come with me, we'll need to separate once we get close to the meeting." She told the two blondes. "I think you know why that is."

"Looks like we all have our roles then." Ruby clapped her hands, happy things were taken care of. "Now we just wait for tomorrow to start the plan."

"What about me?" Nora asked them, reminding them she didn't have a role.

The whole room was quiet as they tried to think of something for Nora to do. What they were doing required a level of stealth, and the ginger wasn't known for it.

"Follow Yang on her way to her informant." Jaune told her. "And whatever you do, don't start a fight."

After she agreed, Ruby repeated once more that _now_ all roles were given and they'd wait for tomorrow. The group would still need to bring their weapons, but they needed to conceal them to not rouse any attention. Tomorrow, they'd be disguised as normal civilians.

 **The next day**

"So everyone remembers the plan, right?" Ruby asked the team as they waited for team JNPR to knock on their door.

The time was still early, so it wasn't a rush for them to head into Vale. Yang and Ruby's weapons were easy to conceal since they could compact and fold, but Weiss and Blake had to roll theirs in a long cloth to keep them from being seen.

"Of course." Weiss rolled he eyes. "You and Pyrrha will be heading off early to scope the area for police. Ren and I will be going on our 'date' to the CCT to get information on the robberies."

"I'm going to my informant for any shady business going on in town." Yang repeated last night's plan.

"And I'm going with Jaune to get into the White Fang meeting." Blake summarized her role.

"That sounds awesome. Count me in." A male voice said from their open window. Turning to the voice, they saw it was Sun hanging from his tail.

"Sun?" Blake gasped, walking over to him. "How much did you hear?"

"Just about everything." He said, flipping to sit on the window ledge. "So count me in."

"Sorry Sun, but we already have too many people involved." Ruby apologized for her team. "We don't want any more friends pulled into this."

"That's dumb." The monkey faunus pouted. "You should always get friends involved. That's why I brought Neptune with me."

"Neptune's here?" Weiss asked, stepping forward.

"Mhm." He nodded, thumbing outside the window. "He's out there."

All four peeked to the right where they saw Neptune standing on the ledge trying not to fall off. "Hello."

"So I take it you heard everything too." Blake said more as a statement than a question.

"Please let me in." He said with a forced smile still on his face. "It's really high up here."

After letting the two in, team RWBY had two people to add to their plans. Ruby was all for it in putting Neptune with Yang and Nora while Sun went with Blake, but the blonde brawler noted that her bike could only hold two people at max. Once the knock on their door came, Blake was quick to open up and let whoever was knocking in – and that person happened to be the leader of the other team across from them and his partner dressed in the new clothes they had bought before and the redhead wearing a beret to hide her hair. Ren and Nora were behind them dressed in the most common wear that they'd easily be mistaken for civilians. Upon seeing the two new people in the room, Weiss was the one to inform them of the added members.

"I guess Sun could take my place in going to the meeting with you." The blonde knight told the cat faunus.

Blake was fine with Sun going with her, but at the same time she wasn't comfortable with his blatant approach at flirting. It was similar to how Jaune had used to act around Weiss before he got serious on training and she could now understand the heiress' feelings. She wasn't going to be cold to the monkey faunus, but she wasn't going to try and be nice that sent the wrong signals. It was a crucial moment for her and the others and she didn't need romance or such adding on to her problems – that's what her books were for.

"I'd feel comfortable if you were still close by." She stated, getting raised brows from the others. "The three of us worked so well last time, I think we could do so again. He could tale us while on the way to the meeting and join me inside as my backup."

"If you're sure." Both blondes nodded, seeing nothing wrong with the idea. "Sun, can you and Neptune give your scroll numbers? We'll all need to be updated in case we run into anything."

"Sure dude."

After passing the numbers, Ruby and Pyrrha had left the room to head into town first. They'd be finding vantage points that was well hidden but gave them clear views of the streets. Once they got their spots, they'd message the group for them to head out in their groups. After minutes of waiting, the group got a call from Ruby saying she was at a good vantage point and had a clear view of the CCT and the open streets. She had a run in with Atlas Military, but she was able to get away. Pyrrha had called later, finding her own spot and stated it was further away from Ruby but the two were able to see one another.

"Weiss and Ren are up." Yang told the two while turning to Jaune. "Any changes we should be aware of?"

"Why not have Neptune switch with Ren?" Weiss suggested, walking to stand next tot the blue haired teen. "Ren is obviously more suited to stealth and having him follow us close by would be better suited for his skills."

"Ren?" Jaune looked to his teammate, getting a nod in return. "Looks like Neptune's going with you Weiss. Get what you can from the CCT and meet back here later."

Dragging Neptune out with Ren following close by, it was just the five people in the room. Nora and Yang had left to ride off on Yang's bike and the three remaining had taken two Bullheads into Vale with Blake and Jaune in one and Sun in the other. After they had gotten off, and Sun had gone a few distances but still in their eyesight, the two teens on a 'date' were off to see a meeting of extremists.

 **END**

 **AN: Cliffhanger! I'm going to be off for a bit since Christmas and all. Not that much action this chapter, but we get a view into the consequences of actions and the group getting back into solving crime. Putting Sun and Neptune in this was a debate for me, but I think it would have still happened. I rewatched the episode where Tukson died and tried to add some evidence into it. There wasn't much specifics of what happened to the body, but we all know he died. And I doubt his store was set on fire since there would have been something told about it.**

 **As for the police coming in saying how someone witnessed the two teams but none witnessed Emerald and Mercury, its possible the thief used her semblance to make it look like no one entered the store.**

 **Don't think anything too much on the date thing. I tried to go over the ways the teams could all be involved and that was the best I could think of. Things are a lot harder for them now that they know they can be expelled, so they're going the subtle route.**

 **Omake:**

 **Clothes shopping**

"No." Yang shook her head, giving Jaune a thumbs down as he modeled for her and Pyrrha in a red tracksuit. "The color doesn't compliment you at all."

"Try these on." His partner suggested, giving him a gray hoodie and a brown vest with beige jeans.

The knight sighed as he closed the curtains to do as he was told. It had been three hours and he was still shopping. The blonde boy had already gotten his clothes, but the two girls told him to get something else. He found a regular black hoodie and some nice baggy jeans, but it wasn't enough for the two. In Yang's words, his style was awful and needed to be fixed. Opening the curtains, he displayed himself to the two getting a few hums and tongue clicks.

"The top is good, but the bottom isn't going for me." Yang shared with the champion, getting a nod in return.

"The coloring just isn't going for me." She nodded, thinking of something to match with the top. "I saw some ripped jeans, but they I went against it."

"Good choice." The busty blonde agreed. "Those things are way out of season."

"Can't I just buy something close to what I had and be done with it?" Jaune pleaded, wanting to do something that wasn't shopping. Ren and Nora were probably playing something fun by now and he was missing out.

"Not until we get you some good pants." Yang told him with finality. Looking him over once more, inspiration struck her as she got an idea. "I'll be back in a bit. I know I saw those things a few isles down."

Getting up and dashing to another area of the store, Jaune and Pyrrha waited with the redhead looking him over to figure out what else he'd look good in and the blonde wishing it was almost over with the last item. As Yang came back, she holding two items Jaune absolutely refused to wear – short shorts and chaps.

"I am not wearing that!" He refused profusely.

"Why not?" Yang said with a cat like grin. "I think they'll look great on you."

"Yang." He ground out, eyeing the shorts disdainfully. "Those shorts look so small I can guarantee my-"

Realizing who he was talking to and who else was present, Jaune clamped up, not wanting to step on the mine. But this was Yang he was talking to and she was a walking minefield.

"What?" She said in a too innocent manner. "Are you telling me something's going to _slip out_ if you put these on? Maybe something will _peak_ from the top? Is that why you want baggy pants instead?"

It took Pyrrha a while to figure out what Yang was talking about, but once she did, her face had flushed the same color as her hair. Imagining Jaune wearing such a thing and having a _malfunction_ during combat class wasn't a funny picture when Goodwitch was involved. For the sake of her partner, she'd look for something _not_ short shorts for him to wear.

"How about these compression jeans?" The redhead offered, showing it to the two. It got mixed reactions as Yang gave a thumbs up while Jaune gave a hard rejection.

"Just how big do you think you are that you don't want even these?" Yang teased, shoving the pants Pyrrha chose for him. "They're called compression for a reason, so try 'em on. And put the chaps on too. It matches the vest."

"If I do this, can I just buy the first stuff I bought?" He asked, face flushed for what he was about to do.

"Go for it." She shrugged, pushing back into the fitting room. "Once you see how good you look, you won't want to buy those baggy clothes."

 **A few minutes later**

All three sat together with huge blushes on their faces as they tried to move on from what had happened. Pyrrha was having a hard time looking at her partner without her eyes drifting down every now and then while Yang was more shocked by what she wasn't expecting. As for Jaune, he was still self-conscious as the two hadn't said anything of what they saw.

"Uh, yeah." Yang coughed, turning to the other blonde. "Those compression pants don't work for you. It clashes with the chaps."

"I won't lie." Jaune said, playing with the chaps he still had on. "These things are nice. If I had jeans on, then it might be better."

"Why not make it long shorts." Pyrrha suggested, still not turning to look at him. "That way the chaps don't get too hot for you and you still have something similar to jeans."

"That'd work." Yang agreed immediately, pushing Jaune up. "Why don't you go get those yourself and try them on. Just make sure they're not too baggy and loose."

Nodding, Jaune went off to go find long shorts that were good on him and left the two girls alone. As he was out of earshot, the two girls looked at one another and waved their hands with eyes wide. This would be a happy secret the two would take to their graves. After Jaune returned with blue long shorts, they agreed he looked good in it and bought his baggy clothing and the outfit he was wearing.

"So does that mean we can go?" He dared to hope.

"No, silly." Yang laughed, killing his hope. "Now it's our turn to shop."

As the two girls continued to look for something for them, Jaune got bored waiting and decided to do something to pass the time. The two girls had gotten a bunch of items and were in a fitting room trying them on. Walking around and rummaging over some clothes, he saw a few clothes similar to a certain someone and thought to have fun with it. Grabbing the clothes, he rushed into a changing room next to Yang and waited for her to come out.

"Alright." Yang called out, stepping out in a new jacket with black pants for Jaune to critic. "Jaune, where'd you go?"

"And here's your hero!" Jaune exclaimed, walking out of the room next to her.

"What the-?" Yang burst out laughing at what Jaune was wearing. It was like her usual outfit with the orange scarf and everything, but with the short being longer and the shirt covering his belly - he even a tuft of hair sticking up. "Looking good, blonde wonder."

Pyrrha had peeked out of her changing room to see what the commotion was and got into a fit of giggles seeing what her partner was wearing. Currently, she was just wearing a yellow jersey she thought looked nice on her. "Very funny, Jaune."

"I say keep it." Yang nodded, looking him over. "Heck, I'd pay for it myself."

"Is the jersey all you're getting Pyr?" He asked his partner, getting a nod in return.

"Yeah. I really like yellow." She said with a small blush on her cheeks.

After the blonde leader put the clothes back and the two paid for everything, it was time to go back to the dorms. Getting pajamas was simple enough after the two threatened they would not to leave if Jaune didn't put the onesie away.

 **END**

 **AN: So I saw this comic where Ruby and Weiss were using the clothes of their older sisters and it got me thinking of what would others look like if they swapped clothes. Then again, RWBY Chibi already showed what Ruby and Ren would look like if they swapped clothes.**

 **I wont say anything about the 'compression' pants. All I'll say is that its false advertising when it doesn't say what it compresses and what is defined. Just like how Johnson's baby shampoo said it doesn't give tears. I stupidly poured some of the stuff in my eyes one time thinking it was going to be soothing! Apparently, it's not no tears for the eyes but no tears in the hair.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Hey all readers. Another chapter update once more. I was having a chat with this other user by the name lord Rikudou and we were talking on the topic of Jaune's semblance. I'm not going to spoil the idea I had for it, but it has something to do with the problem he had in this story. However, I will say that it is defensive and isn't that OP. So no Naruto Gary Stu stuff. I've read enough of those stories.**

 **On the topic of the Metal Gear thing I'm working on, I'm thinking of writing it with two different perspectives. There'll be Ruby: The Rose of the Battlefield and Jaune: The Warrior With No Country.**

 **But enough of that, let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 8:** All Out

Weiss was fidgeting as she and her 'date' were walking towards the CCT. She knows it was supposed to be an act, but being near the cute boy was working on her nerves. She didn't believe in love at first sight, but as of now she wanted to give the blue haired teen a chance. If someone was to ask why she'd give Neptune a chance but would turn down so many, she'd tell them to mind their own business. Who she decided to give her attention to was solely her choice and no one else's.

"So this is the CCT of Vale." Neptune said, getting her attention. "Looks way fancier than the one in Vacuo."

"You should see the one in Atlas." Weiss told him, sounding happy for once.

"So what do I do?" He asked, looking around and spotting Ren in a crowd. "Do I just wait here and mingle or do I go in with you?"

"Its better for me to head in by myself." The heiress said, turning to him with a sorry smile. "This should be a quick in and out and I'll need you to message me if any cops are around."

"You know, I just met you guys, but this is pretty intense." He stated, getting a raised brow in return. "It's cool. I'm just saying you and your friends are into some really deep stuff."

"You don't know the half of it." She giggled, stepping back to walk in. "I'll be quick now."

As the Schnee walked into the CCT to make an important phone call and get some information, Neptune found a place to sit down and take in the sites. Hearing giggling a few feet away from him, he turned to see some girls waving at him. Nodding in their direction and giving a wink, he didn't notice the guy tailing them rolling his eyes.

"Wonder how Jaune and Blake are doing?" The ninja muttered, finding a corner to lean on and get a clear view of everything.

Looking upwards, he caught a small red dot on his person. Looking around, he saw a small figure from a far distance high on a building waving at him. He couldn't see clearly who it was, but the small amount of red meant it was Ruby since Pyrrha made sure to cover her hair. Making a small nod in case she was watching them, the red dot blinked twice showing she had her eyes on them.

 **High atop a building**

Ruby wasn't dumb as to have her sniper out while scoping the area. Her weapon was many things, but stealthy when opened up wasn't one of them. That's why she had it in compact form and had the scope detached to make it look like she was an innocent girl scoping the town. She even had her sketchpad to make it look like she was drawing the city. Pyrrha was doing the same thing and had brought a notebook with her to make it like she was mapping the stores.

"Heehee." The little leader giggled, waving to Ren from her position.

She wouldn't say it out loud in case everyone thought it childish, but she was having fun on this. She gets this whole thing was serious, but she couldn't help feeling like they were on a top-secret mission like in the movies. Now that she thought about it, this was a top-secret mission since getting caught meant expulsion. Too bad she couldn't write this to her friends back in Signal.

Her smile then turned into a frown seeing Neptune chatting up some other girls when he should have been acting as a 'date' to her partner. Turning away from him, the reaper kept scanning the grounds for any signs of cops. Seeing one walking in front of the CCT, she took her laser pointer out and signaled Ren to get his attention. She sighed in relief as the ninja in disguise looked around and spotted the cop walking around. They didn't know if all feds knew who they were, but it was best to be safe on this and take caution. She watched as he casually walked into Neptune and acted sorry to gain his attention. It was a good thing he did too, since Weiss had came out seconds later to not see her 'date' flirting with other women. In any other case, they'd let the heiress blow up, but that would have gotten attention they didn't want on them.

Seeing the 'couple' walking away with Ren close behind, Ruby continued to scope them until they were hidden. Sighing in relief, she opened her scroll to message her partner on the situation. The heiress was able to get the documents easily and was waiting with her 'date' at a small café. The sun was setting now and she was losing vision of things where she was. Seeing one group safely done, she thought to move a few buildings down and scope the place out for any more things. She saw the Atlas Military and General Ironwood putting on a show. Getting to the spot she was at now was a hassle since she was trying to avoid a few of them.

Just as she was about to turn away, a lock of ginger hair caught her eye. Thinking it was Nora, Ruby scanned the area once more and found her friend Penny being chased by the Atlas guards. Picking up her scroll, she dialed in Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, I see an emergency." She said briefly, knowing the champion had her in sight. "Keep a close eye on the others while I take care of this."

" _Ruby, wai-"_ Whatever the tall redhead was going to say to her went unfinished as the hooded girl used her semblance to jump buildings and get to her friend. Running down a fire escape, she zoomed behind the two men chasing the ginger and managed to tackle them into a dumpster.

"Penny!" She called to her friend.

She smiled as the strange girl stopped in her tracks to face her. The smile soon turned to shock as she realized she was in the middle of the road with a heavy truck about to hit her. Flinching from the truck's horn, she was frozen in place with the heavy weight of iron on wheels close to ramming into her. But she was pushed aside as the ginger girl moved her out of the way and held her hands to stop the truck without moving from her spot.

"Penny?" Ruby whispered, seeing her friend do something amazing without aura.

"Are you okay?" Penny asked the old man driving the truck. Getting a nod, she backed away from the truck and looked around as a crowd was forming. Running away, Ruby gave chase to her friend seeing how scared she looked.

 **With Jaune and Blake**

The two were currently having a hard time getting to their destination since the number of cops roaming in their area was heavy. This had to do with all the faunus living in the neighborhood, and it disgusted Blake how racist the VPD were with her kind. If this was where they were most of the time, then it was no wonder Torchwick and other small time human gangs were getting away with robberies.

"Cops walking our way." Jaune whispered to her, inching close to make it seem like they were a real couple. As they passed them, the blonde released a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Do you see Sun anywhere?"

"No." She shook her head, not seeing anyone that looked like the monkey faunus.

"Good." He said, getting a raised brow in return. "If you can't see him, chances are the cops won't either."

"Nice flattery." She jibed at him, giving him a soft elbow to the chest. "If this were a real date, you'd pass with that comment."

"If this was a real date, I'd pick something not related to busting a radical group." He shot back, getting a smirk in return.

The Jaune from before would have blushed and read too much into her comment like what happened with Weiss. But now he was more confident in himself and was a lot smarter than before. Now that she thought about it, she still hasn't seen that _cool_ side Ruby told him he had. He was still the kind guy that made people smile, but just stood tall and rolled with the punches. She'll admit her opinion of him was extremely low to thinking they'd never speak to one another and never being actual friends, but now here they were on a mission to stop the White Fang. Now that she thought it over, she's never acted this comfortable around another male since leaving the White Fang.

And yet it still felt awkward for her since they were basically walking in silence to a hideout that was still miles away. It might seem like a good approach to not gain any attention on them, but their cover was supposed to be a 'normal' couple on a date. Her opinion on the police was low, but she wouldn't underestimate them too much in case an observant one stopped them.

' _Maybe we could get to know each other better. Y'know? So it wouldn't feel so awkward?'_

' _Now that's an idea.'_ She thought, happy that memory had popped up. The cat faunus may have thought the blonde next to her as a friend, but they still knew next to little about one another. This could kill two birds with one stone. "Hey Jaune, why not continue where we left off in the cafeteria?"

"What about the cafeteria?" The blonde asked, not knowing what she was talking about. If it was the food fight, now was not a good time to put the attention on them.

"The first time we actually held a conversation." Blake clarified, getting an 'oh' in return. "You can start off."

"Okay." He replied, trying to think of something. "Before I start, can you tell me what you already know? It's so I don't have to repeat it."

"I know you like reading novels and hate textbooks." She started, going with what she liked too. "You haven't told me what you like to eat, but I'm betting meat is starting to be one of it. And you have seven sisters and came from Ansel."

"And I only know you like fish." He mumbled disappointed in himself, getting a silent laugh out of her. "So if I tell you one thing, can you tell me where you came from and stuff?"

"It'll have to be something I wouldn't expect." She said back, getting the blonde knight to rake his brain for something. After a few seconds his next statement was something she really wasn't expecting.

"I know how to dance." He said, no trace of lie in his voice. Not that it would work even if it weren't Blake since he was still a horrible liar. Getting good at fighting dirty, but still bad at lying.

"Well that's surprising." She said, muffling her giggle before she spoke. "A deal's a deal. I'm from Menagerie and I'm an only child."

"Menagerie, that's that place exclusive for faunus, right?" He asked, remembering a few of Oobleck's lessons.

"Not really _exclusive_ exclusive." She corrected him. True it was faunus dominant, but that didn't mean humans couldn't live with them. The faunus just didn't want them thinking it was theirs to own like the rest of the world. Menagerie was given to them, but others didn't take it well. They felt it was given to isolate them from the rest of the world – and she believed it too. Her friends excluding Weiss might be welcomed, but Blake doubted they'd be fully trusted in her hometown.

"So when did you get into Ninjas of Love?" He asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Now that is a question I will not share." She pointed to him, a blush heavy on her face. Looking ahead, she saw that they were close enough to the building. "We're here."

Jaune got a text from Pyrrha saying there were a few cops eyeing them. Subtly looking around, he saw them sitting on a bench looking at him and Blake. Showing the message to Blake, she glanced in the direction and saw that they were being watched. She cursed as she noticed the time and how dark it was. The rest of the police had left the area, but the ones eyeing them must have thought they were suspicious being two young teenagers in the shady part of town. If they separated now, chances of suspicion going up and cops following them would increase.

"Any ideas?" The blonde asked, not turning to look at the feds still eyeing them. Seeing on of them walking towards them, his muscles tensed up as he tried to think of an idea.

Blake's mind was going into overdrive like Jaune's as she tried to think of something that wasn't violent. She could take out the guy in the back while Jaune handled the one walking towards them, but they didn't want to take the chance of it going back to Beacon. If they talked to the policeman coming towards them, they'd need a very valid reason of why two young …teenagers …on a date …would-

"Just act natural and follow my lead." She whispered to him in a rush before putting on the fakest smile and shifting her voice up a pitch with two volumes up. "I like, had a great time on our date. Heehee."

Jaune had to stop himself from blanching at her sudden change. It was like listening to those stereotypical valley girl bimbos in those awful high school movies or those weaboo people Ren groaned about once. Seeing her egging him to respond, he understood what she wanted him to do. They'd both be kicking themselves in the teeth later, but for now, it was time to act.

"Nothing too good for my babe." He said in the most awful husky tone with chest puffed out. Glancing to the side, he saw that the cop had stopped in his tracks and was now just watching them.

' _Seriously?!'_ He growled in his head. _'Go away!'_

"We should like, do this again sometime." The cat faunus laid it on, twiddling her hair with one hand and biting her finger.

If Jaune ever spoke this to anyone, she would murder him in his sleep. Now that she thought about it, wasn't Pyrrha watching them?! Blake cursed in her head imagining the redhead giggling at their display with a cop watching them. She didn't know how, but if Pyrrha told anyone, she'd murder _her_ in her sleep – and then Jaune to get rid of all the evidence. And why the fuck was the cop not going away?!

"Any time, babycakes." The blonde said, brushing his hair back and giving her a wink and a finger point.

Seriously, if Blake told anyone of this he didn't know how, but he'd murder her – or blackmail her with the knowledge of what Ninjas of Love was. Oh who was he kidding? If he did blackmail her, she'd kill him in his sleep! He hoped his partner wasn't watching their acting because this was embarrassing enough as it was. With the cop not going away, the two were running out of options.

' _Fuck it.'_ Both thought, getting sick of the pig still not going away.

Blake latched her arms around Jaune's neck while he put his hand behind her head and on her lower back. The contact wasn't that sweet since their clashed teeth first. Ignoring the pain they felt in their mouth and the possible bleeding, they proceeded to make the sloppiest and crudest sounds as they faked a make-out session. By the time Blake had completely straddled the blonde, with his hand tussling her hair, the cop and the rest of his crew had walked off from feeling uncomfortable. But the one's feeling the most uncomfortable were the two teenagers who pushed away from each other after the feds had walked off.

"We will never speak of that." Blake ground out, wiping her lips of the saliva smeared on it.

"You think Sun and Pyrrha saw us?" Jaune asked, looking around for his fellow blonde male. He really hoped his partner didn't see all of that. The last thing he needed was for Pyrrha to tease him.

"Oh my god." The cat faunus ran a hand through her face. "Just… find a spot to lay low and I'll meet up with Sun inside the building."

"Right." He nodded, getting serious once more. Separating from Blake, Jaune found a bench to sit on and contacted his partner.

 **With Pyrrha**

The champion did not know what she had just witnessed. She didn't know why she had watched the whole ordeal, but she knew how she felt about it. Trying to think it through rationally, she played through the whole thing once more.

The cop was walking towards them. Blake smiled and acted not like her usual self. Jaune acted like how he did the first time he flirted with her and Weiss. Cop didn't leave. The two acted more out of character, and the cop didn't leave. They started …kissing, and then the cops left. Thinking it over, she deduced it was an act to try and get the pigs to leave – and it worked.

' _Okay Pyrrha, it was just a fake make-out.'_ She breathed, still feeling peeved from jealousy. _'Nothing to get angry over - or hurt.'_

Feeling her scroll buzz with her ringtone, she pulled it out of her pocket and saw it was her partner. Looking into her scope once more, she her partner was sitting on a bench alone with his scroll out. He was looking around, and she could guess he was looking for her.

"Hey Jaune." She answered, putting on her calmest tone.

" _Pyr."_ He said, still looking around _. "Do you still have your eyes on me? Blake's in the meeting now, but I don't know about Sun."_

"He's inside too." She answered, having seen the monkey faunus tailing them a few roofs over. He also saw the two acting and was silently laughing while holding his sides. "I'm actually a few buildings near you right now."

" _Is there a ladder I can climb to meet you there?"_ Looking around, Pyrrha saw a fire escape that would be easy to climb.

"No." She lied, not wanting for him to see her right now. She was still a bit jealous of the kissing, and she didn't want to say something that might cause a scene. "Sorry Jaune."

" _It's okay."_ He sighed, getting up to look around. After a few minutes of silence, he talked once more. _"You… didn't see anything after texting about the cops did you?"_

She had mixed feelings on him bringing that up. On one hand, this could give her a chance to confess her crush on him. On the other, the blonde might say he liked kissing Blake and make her say something out of jealousy.

"I was busy making sure Sun made it in safe." She lied, telling sort of a half-truth. "For some reason he was laughing while going in."

" _Oh my gosh, that means Sun saw."_ Jaune groaned, banging his head on a light post. Did Pyrrha ever tell Jaune he was bad at lying? Because she's pretty sure it extended to secrets.

"Saw what Jaune?" She asked, trying to sound ignorant.

" _So after the text on the cop watching us, Blake decides to do the_ worst _valley girl acting I've ever seen."_ He was pacing now while waving his hands to emphasize how bad it was. It was okay for him to do so since all cops had left the streets.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad." Pyrrha giggled, getting some of the context of the scenario.

" _Oh, it was bad."_ He assured her, preparing to rant. _"She was talking like 'We should like, do this again.' And the worst part was that the stupid cop wouldn't go away."_

By now Pyrrha was holding in her giggles at his impression. Imagining Blake's voice doing the tone, she felt her jealousy slowly fading away. "Then what happened?"

" _I had to fake it to make it."_ He grumbled, stopping in his tracks. _"And I mean fake it bad. Like 'Yeah babe, that's cool' fake."_

"Oh my." The redhead giggled, now knowing the context of the whole thing.

" _And stupid officer still wouldn't leave."_ He continued, ignoring her giggles. _"No choice for either of us. We had to make the worst make out session ever."_

"Did you like it?" She asked, giggles gone and attention on his answer.

" _It was super awkward!"_ He whispered, waving his hand in the air. _"There's this policeman watching us make lewd sounds intentionally for him to go away and he was still watching for the first ten seconds. Me and Blake practically butted heads by how our teeth bumped."_

"So you didn't like it?" She asked once more, trying to get a yes or no.

" _I… I don't know."_ He mumbled, sitting back down with a cool head. _"I'm not going to read into it and think me and Blake are going anywhere after that, but it was still a kiss. I liked it, but …it's hard to explain. Do you get what I mean though?"_

She did. He was talking about a kiss with no platonic feelings behind it. Pyrrha sighed in relief after hearing that. There wasn't anything going on between the two. Now that the champion thought it over, it was okay to feel jealous, but it wasn't okay to let it isolate her from others.

"I do, Jaune." She answered, looking back to the fire escape leading to her. "I've moved positions to a few buildings across from the bench you're at. It has a fire escape you can climb to meet me."

" _I'm on my way partner."_ He saluted in her direction and hanging up.

Jaune wasn't hers to claim, but she still wanted to have something more with him. Seeing him and Blake kiss was a wakeup call for her that she wasn't the only girl in Jaune's life. There was still Ruby, Weiss, and Yang along with Blake. Maybe soon there would be a lot more girls that would notice how good Jaune was like she did. She was so happy with him just being with her, she forgot that there were others in his life. The redhead had so many opportunities to make her feelings known, but she didn't act on them in fear it would ruin what they had. But now she realized that losing him without even trying was even worse than not trying at all. After this was all over, she'd confess her feelings to him.

It didn't take the blonde long to find the building she was on – mostly because he climbed the wrong building and saw he was two roofs across from her. After jumping the two to meet her, they sat in silence with her scoping the building for anything wrong and him providing her company.

To those with sniping skills, patience was a requirement that Pyrrha was aware of. In Ruby's case, she was a combat sniper that didn't need it with her semblance – but the practice was still the same. Since her partner wasn't one to use guns, he didn't have the same patience to sit and wait for a long time. It was obvious to the redhead how bored he was getting by his constant foot tapping and humming. Anyone would be annoyed, but Pyrrha was glad it was him and not Nora. She wondered how things were going on her end?

 **With Yang and Nora in the club**

"That was boring." Nora hummed as they sat at table drinking Strawberry Sunrises. "The guy didn't even put up a fight."

"That's what happens when you get street cred." Yang boasted, swirling her drink and eyeing the bartender. "I practically have these guys by the balls."

"So what now? We just sit here and wait?" The ginger huffed, playing with her drink.

"Looks like it." The busty blonde replied, putting her drink down. "We can talk about stuff to pass the time. With all this crap going on around us, we all need to feel human once in a while."

For once, Nora could agree to that. Their world wasn't so great with people fighting amongst one another even with a common enemy outside the walls. And that's where their occupation came in – hunters and huntresses, the heroes and saviors that risk their lives for the people. But after getting hurt badly, it all comes crashing down that they're mortal like the rest of the people they're protecting.

"So what'd you have in mind?" Nora asked, putting her drink down to shoot the breeze.

"Just anything you feel like sharing." Yang said, getting a nod in return. "Me? I'd talk about my accomplishments. I finally got those pounds I've been trying to lose. All thanks to a new diet."

"I wouldn't know." The ginger smiled, getting a glare in return. "I eat all the pancakes I want, but I just burn them off with a swing of a hammer. One time I ate a whole cake and got bloated, but then after a burp and some sleep I was back to being slim."

"What is up with your team being healthy?" Yang growled, hating her cursed metabolism. "Jaune's gotta eat to _gain_ weight, Pyrrha eats like a grape and she's raring to go the whole day, Ren's …whatever he eats, and you! You."

"Maybe it's genetics." Nora supplied.

Yang _could_ blame her never around mom for her metabolism, but then that would just add to the things she's blamed her a lot for - she went against it. For all she knew, it probably came from her dad. Then again, Ruby eats a whole plate of cookies and doesn't gain any tummy from it. Screw it, she'd chalk another thing to blame her no birthday visiting mom for right next to fear of abandonment. After getting out of that sad corner, she needed something to pull her out to the happy zone once more.

"So you and Ren really not a thing?" That question got an eye roll in return.

"Can't two people be close without something coming out of it?" She asked, leaning in her chair to swing back a bit.

"Bull." Yang said bluntly, eyes fixed on her friend. "You may not make it obvious like P-money, but it's there alright."

"You noticed that too?" She asked, deflecting the subject to her teammate. "I'm surprised Jaune hasn't figured it out."

"The guy's got his problems." The blonde shrugged, taking a sip of her drink. "Believe me, nothing worse than a woman chasing after a guy trying to find himself."

"What do you mean?" This was new to the bubbly girl. Her leader was always happy and willing to share with them so much it was weird hearing he had inner turmoil. "How do you even know?"

"I see it whenever we work out together." Yang told the girl with a sad smile. "We hang out at the gym sometimes and I help spot him in weights. And every time it comes to shadowboxing in front of the mirror, he's got this look in his eye saying he doesn't know who he's looking at. Like he wants to push that image away from him or something to see the real him."

"That's deep." Nora nodded, never seeing this side of Yang.

"Older siblings are awesome that way." The blonde said puffing her chest out. "Plus I need to fix the guy up for my baby sis. Can't have him putting her down – that's not right."

"But what about Pyrrha?" She asked, defending her teammate.

"All's fair in love and war." Yang said with a cheeky grin. "If you don't play to win, you're gonna get hurt."

After minutes of gossiping on their teammates love lives and other funny stories with an even match of arm-wrestling, both got a call from Blake shouting she needed backup. There were sounds of things crashing and wind blowing hard with car screeches meaning they were in the streets. Downing their drinks and rushing out after throwing cash at Junior, the two powerhouses got on Bumblebee and raced off to find the trouble.

 **With Blake and Sun**

 **Expressway**

The two faunus had walked into the worst meeting. Not only was Roman there with some unnamed ice cream girl, but they had a working Paladin with the White Fang insignia on it. They managed to escape, but now it was a battle on the streets as Roman chased them with the giant robot. Jaune and Pyrrha had joined in with the champion keeping her partner with her at all times.

"I _really_ need to save up for a gun or something!" The blonde shouted, standing on a truck with Sun.

"Get out of the way!" Nora shouted, wanting to fire her grenades. Se didn't do it since she might end up hitting the guy stuck on it.

Neptune ran ahead of Weiss and Ren and was currently standing on top of the giant bot with weapon pierced into it. He was struggling to hang on since the Paladin was trying to shake him off.

"Hang on bud." Sun shouted to his partner, opening his weapon up to smack it hard. Just as the he was about to make contact, the blue haired teen's weapon had dislodged and he was thrown into the money faunus' direction. As they collided, the two fell off the bridge and were left behind.

" _We're in position."_ Weiss called on Blake's scroll. After saying that, Ren and Weiss jumped from another road above the expressway and were waiting for the Paladin to get near them.

"Ready?" The heiress asked the martial artist. Getting a nod in return, Weiss timed the road around her to be turned into ice and succeeded in bringing the robot off balance. Ren took the opportunity to concentrate his aura for one hard hit that sent it tumbling down to the ground below where Ruby was waiting. It succeeded in cracking an arm, but it was still functioning well since it landed on its feet.

Team RWBY and JNPR were now complete as the rest of the team had jumped down to meet the young leader. The two leaders shared a glance before nodding in tandem knowing what to do.

"Freezerburn!" Ruby shouted jumping out of the way for Weiss and Yang to create a fog that blinded the pilot.

As they hid in the fog, Pyrrha used the opportunity to try and mess with it's systems by using her semblance. It was trying to scan for it with laser sights, but with all of them moving and getting out of the way, it was getting no feed. Concentrating on the laser sights, she got them to face in one direction to keep it blind.

"Checkerboard!" Ruby shouted, getting Weiss and Blake to attack it.

As the two worked together to put damage on the machine, Ren and Jaune were getting in position from behind to flank it. By the time the two rolled out of the way, it was time for them to use their team attack. They still couldn't get a name for it, but they knew how it worked.

"Now!" The blonde leader commanded, charging at the robot with shield strapped to his back.

As the two boys got close, Ren jumped as Jaune stopped to duck and used his leader as a springboard to get more air where he took his dual SMGs out and fired from above on the machine. On his way down, he caught Weiss just in time to pull her away from a shot. While that happened, Jaune was hacking at the legs of the giant robot but had no instant result. In the process, his sword got lodged in deep and was stuck. Rolling out of the way of getting stomped on, Nora shot grenades to keep it distracted long enough for Yang and Ren to get on and start pummeling at it's head. While that happened, Blake and Ruby took the chance to take one of it's arms off. This gave the strategist in the group an idea.

"Pyrrha." Jaune ran to his partner, seeing her control still trying to slow the machine down. "Do you think that arm still has some juice left in it?"

Looking over to Nora who was grinning widely, the three got to work while team RWBY and Ren did their best to break the stolen robot. With Pyrrha using her semblance to adjust the severed part open and Nora sucking whatever juice it had left in it, Jaune joined the rest of team RWBY. Yang and Ren had been thrown off with the blonde brawler taking the heavy hit into a support pillar. From the looks of things, she was mad now. With one punch she shattered the last arm, but was kicked back.

"Bumblebee!" The young leader shouted, getting Blake to catch Yang with her weapon to set up one of their strongest attacks.

Ren jumped out of the way from being stomped on and saw what was going on behind the robot. Ruby and Weiss performed their team attack to immobilize the giant death machine, and succeeded in stopping it's movements for a good amount of time for Yang to get ready.

"Now!" Jaune shouted to the two girls of his team, seeing their chance. "Nora Bomb!"

Roman would need to know the number of the truck that hit him because he was sent tumbling out of the machine after getting smashed from above and in front of him. With Yang fueled up from being hit so hard and Nora sucking enough juice from the severed part to supercharge her muscles, it was an equivalent to being stomped on by three road-rollers. Lucky for him the Paladin took most of the impact as it shattered.

"Pyrrha." Jaune called to his partner, throwing his shield in Roman's direction.

The champion caught on to what he wanted and spun it extra fast to control it's direction and force. Yang, still in berserker state, shot fire at the man only to have it blocked by an umbrella. The shield was then smacked down by the owner of the umbrella and picked up by the flamboyant thief.

"Ladies, Ice Queen. Always a pleasure." Roman nodded to team RWBY before turning to team JNPR. "Nice chaps cowboy. Neo, if you don't mind."

Neo taunted them with a small bow with foot on Jaune's shield under her boot. Both blondes charged in to get their smack in. Just as they were about to knock them down, the two criminals vanished and flew away in a Bullhead. Picking up his shield, Jaune calmed his nerves to go and find his sword in the pile of metal. Ren had joined him to make sure his leader was alright.

"Well, she made our plans fall apart." Weiss punned, trying to alleviate the tension. Yang of all people shook her head saying how it wasn't appreciated at this time.

"Jaune." Ren called to the blonde, seeing the blade of the sword.

Picking it up, he saw that was all that was left. The handle and everything else was destroyed leaving only the blade intact. Handing it over to Jaune, the ninja saw an unreadable expression on his face.

"You think we have a chance of not being expelled?" The blonde asked, getting everyone's attention. With the battle they were in, they forgot about the whole being expelled if they went out of line thing.

The group dreaded what would come one they went back to Beacon. Replaying everything, they were do so well until the Paladin had started chasing them. There was also the matter of a few cars being destroyed and possibly a few civilians being killed in the process.

 **Back in Beacon**

"Detention." Ozpin told the teams standing in front of them. They were gaping like fishes at the final verdict placed upon them. "Counseling with Doctor Oobleck for team RWBY, and counseling with Miss Goodwitch for team JNPR."

Without any other words, the two teams left the room feeling they had dodged a bullet. The headmaster explained of how the damages Roman had caused hadn't extended to them, but the school was forced to pay for some of the damages for having students involved. Weiss sighed in relief, knowing that the worst was over for now and they could finally look forward to other things like the school dance. Yes, they would be having counseling for their behavior and judgment, but that wasn't something that could be handled diplomatically.

"So what do you plan on doing with it?" Ruby asked Jaune as they looked at the now handle-less sword. "If you want, we can go to the forge in our free time to fix it up like it was before."

The blonde looked at his damaged sword. It was amazing how the metal had survived the whole punishment while the hilt broke off. Truth be told no matter how he held it, it just never felt right in his hands. Sure he got used to using it, but it just didn't feel like it was all there.

"Maybe we can put a few minor changes." He told his fellow leader, getting the weapons nerd in her to get excited. "No gun attachments though. I'm not ready for that big of a change – not yet."

Ruby wasn't listening as she kept thinking of all the ideas Jaune's sword could go through. They could make it a high frequency blade. Or a shotgun sword. Or a shotgun high frequency blade. Or wait, a flaming high frequency blade that extended into a claymore!

"Ruby, I'm not liking the look in your eyes right now." Jaune warned her, hiding his weapon behind his back. "I just want an extended handle for now. Maybe something that doesn't break easy like today."

"Aww." Her fellow leader just didn't understand her vision. Maybe while they worked on the stupid handle, he'd change his mind to at least adding a gun somewhere. Even a blow dart would do.

 **END**

 **AN: And that is that chapter. I'll be honest, I got some ideas from Captain America in the sneaking around but that's not happening again.**

 **And I see the Knightshade and Arkos shippers are raising the banners higher. If I squint a bit the Lancaster are somewhere mixed in. Don't worry you shippers, I'm working on a new story that has confirmed ships. It even has Oscar in it too.**

 **I've experienced pain before a kiss. That whole Hollywood BS about smashing faces together so abruptly – doesn't apply in real life. If you haven't headbutted the person, then chances are your teeth will clash or you'll smash your nose into them. Or it might be a combination of the three where you butted heads, both noses bumped into each other, and you still clashed teeth.**

 **No omake, sorry about that. Sun and Neptune are in the same place as usual, no changing that. Also the same with Penny, just under different circumstances. You can bet after the failure to capture Roman, some of them are going to relapse. And it looks like Pyrrha's resolve to confess is clear now. The only question is when? It could be next chapter. It could be never. Or it could be sooner but not too soon! So evil. Also there's a hint to what Jaune's semblance is in this chapter. Lord Rikudou if you're going to review, please no spoilers.**

 **Thanks for reading, this is Aloehisja and I hope you look forward to the next chapter because it's character building once more before the dance.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Another update. Not much to say except HAPPY NEW YEAR! (lights fireworks behind me and poses dramatically)**

 **Chapter 9:** Forges and Confessions

Ruby couldn't sleep a wink last night after she and her team separated from team JNPR to get some rest. After Jaune had asked her to help in forging a new handle for his sword, she was wide awake imagining all the cool things she could put on the sword. Sure he _said_ he wanted to just extend the handle, but this was Jaune she was talking about. The guy didn't know what he was looking for in a weapon. She's never even seen him step into the forge to sharpen his sword or maintain it's sheen. Thinking it over, his sword has taken tons of damage and it still looked good to go despite being an aged weapon. It could be a pure titanium alloy mixed with chromium and other non-rusting metals like gold and silver. But it still didn't explain how it could remain so sharp.

"Ruby, pay attention." Weiss nudged her as the girl was sitting dazed while in Oobleck's class.

Snapping out of her thoughts, the leader saw that the teacher was still lecturing on the pros and cons of patriotism and the blinded pride it gives to the people. Recently, Ruby was starting to not like the class since it was so conflicting with how she believed the world to be simple. She was never into politics or that whole diplomacy stuff. It was a wonder that her partner along with Blake and Jaune were able to do so well in the class. The blonde had improved after Blake's tutoring and showed too since Oobleck hadn't been calling him to stay after class for remedials.

"And that class is why freedom is a state of belief." The doctor wrapped up, settling back into his table. "Another early dismissal, except for you team RWBY. I'd like you to stay behind for the scheduling of your counseling."

That was another matter the leader wasn't looking forward to. Her team would be doing one on one talks with the teacher on their judgments in the field. It's not that she didn't like the green haired man, it was more of she didn't see herself agreeing with him anytime soon. If possible, she'd take counseling with Goodwitch over him. At least she was familiar with the disciplinarian's way of talking to them.

Looking to team JNPR who were leaving, she caught Jaune's eye nodding to her. They'd be going to the forge before lunch ended to see what they could work with before going all out before curfew. Walking with her team to stand in front of Oobleck, they handed the man their schedules for him to evaluate a good time slot. It didn't take that long since he had just glanced at all four papers and gave them back.

"Miss Rose shall be taking the Mondays, Miss Schnee on Wednesday, followed by Miss Belladonna on Thursdays, and Miss Xiao Long on Fridays. All time will be exactly at six in the afternoon and these sessions will be one hour. We will have three meetings, but if I deduce you have not improved yourself enough I will be reporting in for an extension until I deem you are fine." It took a while for them to get everything he had said. After nodding in getting he important parts, they had left to go catch up with their friends who were still on their way to the cafeteria.

"Hey guys." Nora waved to them as they caught up. "That meeting was fast."

"It's Oobleck." Weiss reminded the ginger. "It's always fast with him."

"Too easy." Yang chuckled, not going to try an innuendo. "I'm not going to take the bait."

"How crude." The heiress replied, stepping away from the busty blonde. "Blake, you agree with me don't you?"

"Hm? Yeah, right." The cat faunus waved off, not really paying attention.

The group knew this was going to happen. Blake was showing signs of relapsing into how she was after last night. She was still listening to them and joining them in conversations, but her demeanor since the morning showed she was in deep turmoil. Team JNPR was watching their leader too. He was still trying to act like things were normal, but they could all see him deep in thought the whole morning. Ruby brushed it off as him pondering on his weapon upgrade, but they weren't buying it as well.

"So have you though of how you wanted to fix your sword?" Ruby asked the blonde knight as they walked into the cafeteria. "I couldn't sleep last night since I was thinking of all the cool upgrades we could put in it."

"Ruby, it's just going to be a new handle." He said, getting a scoff in return. How dare he say it's just a handle.

"I know it's the handle, but we can expand on it." She pushed on. "Like what if we put a rope on it to make it like a swinging sword like Blake's – only better because it's bigger."

"Bigger isn't always better Ruby." The blonde shook his head, not wanting to swing his sword around like that. The amount of practice to master it would be time consuming.

"You guys are really making this too easy for me." The older sister laughed, not going for it. If she did speak, chances were she'd let out what she and Pyrrha knew during their clothes shopping with the dork.

"Ignoring Yang, I still say no to swinging my sword around. On a chain!" He added quickly, seeing Yang's grin widen.

"Brass knuckle holds then?" The little prodigy asked, getting an image of the sword with a brass knuckle grip and spikes on it. This was her final idea since he rejected adding a gun at the pommel and the high frequency idea.

"I'm planning to make it for a two hand hold." The blonde male informed her, getting an 'oh' in the process.

"I get it." She nodded, getting what he was going for. "You want more power with a two hand swing since the last handle could only get one grip."

"But what about your shield?" Pyrrha interjected, joining in the conversation. "You can't hold a sword in two hands and have the shield on one arm at the same time."

"Then I'll put the shield on my back for blind cover." The champion agreed with that solution. Not only would Jaune be able to have a strong hold, but his back would also have better covering in case of sneak attacks. "And the blade isn't that heavy to begin with, so I can still go one handed if I wanted to."

After getting their food and quickly eating up to save time, the two leaders got up from their seats to go to the forge. On their way, they ran into Velvet who was sitting next to a giant of a man. With a quick introduction to Yatsuhashi Daichi, the partner of the bunny faunus, the two went on their way.

 **Beacon's Forge**

"Welcome to my home away from the team." Ruby said to Jaune, standing in the center of the forge.

There were tables upon tables of tools and huge piles of scrap metals categorized by their different types. The place had the smell of fire, hot metal, and oil. Looking around, not many were in since the streets in Vale had professionals to look over the harsh damages. Students would usually come into the place to just tune their weapons themselves or get the paint fixed.

"So what do we have planned, pal?" The silver-eyed girl asked excitedly, looking around for parts to use.

"Just an extension of the hilt Ruby." He reminded her, not wanting her to go overboard and put an ion cannon on his sword. "If I have a change of mind, you'll be the first to know."

"Darn right I will." She muttered, pulling out cylinders and a block of oak wood. "Pass me the blade so I can get the measurements right."

Putting the handle-less sword on the table Ruby was on, she hummed and nodded as she eyeballed the needed measurements for what she had planned. Jaune may have said he didn't want anything too extravagant for his handle, but darn it, Ruby Rose wasn't one to go simple on a weapon.

"Leave the sword with me for a bit." She told him in a tone for no refusal. "If we want to extend the handle, we also need to put in an extension on the tang."

"The what?" Ruby sighed and pointed to the metal part where the handle was supposed to be.

"This is good for a one hander, but it needs to be longer if you want the handle to take more force and still hold." Nodding, Jaune agreed to leave his sword with her. "I'll meet you guys at Combat Class soon. If I work on it with exact precision, it'll be ready by then."

"So why don't I stay with you to see it through?" He suggested, walking over to grab seat next to her.

"I'm going to need to be alone on this." She pushed him away. "Nothing personal, it's just I don't work so well with an audience."

Jaune could understand that. It's like how he had performance anxiety whenever he wanted to sing with others watching him. "Okay Rubes. I'll see you in class later."

As he left, Ruby smirked how easy it was for him to leave. Sure she wasn't lying on extending the tang, but that wasn't all she had planned. This baby was a classic, but in this day and age it needed something more. She'll respect his wishes not to tamper with the sword, but the handle was going to be a Ruby Rose personal. Grabbing some alloys and getting to the oven, it was time to make some magic her way. Imagine the blonde's surprise when she brings him his Crocea Mors MkII now suited for his needs.

"Oh yeah." She said in a sultry tone with a Yang approved grin on her face. Now that she thought it over, the guard was busted too. "In Jaune's bad quiz answer – get good."

 **Half an hour later**

Ruby was skipping the halls as she was going to combat class. The scene might have looked adorable if it wasn't for the sword in her hands she was holding that was out of place. Turning a corner, she nearly bumped into two people who were going in the opposite direction.

"Sorry about that." She apologized, adjusting the sword in her hand as she nearly dropped it. Looking to the person she almost hit, she saw a girl with green hair and a boy with gray hair.

"It's fine." The girl said with a sweet smile. "Just look where you're going next time."

"I'm sorry." Ruby repeated, tucking the sword in one hand and sticking one out for a handshake. "My name's Ruby. And you are?"

"Emerald Sustrai." The girl introduced herself and thumbed her partner. "And this is Mercury."

"Sup." The guy nodded, not really interested in talking to Ruby.

"So what's the rush?" The green haired girl asked, eyeing Ruby's person.

"I'm on my way to combat class right now." She answered, motioning to the sword in her hand. "A friend of mine needed help on his sword, so I was in the forge working on it."

"Combat class, huh?" Mercury joined in. "What a coincidence. Me and Em were just on our way there too."

"Really?" Ruby asked, noticing they were going in the wrong direction. "You guys must be transferees. Combat class is in the other direction."

"I see." He nodded, walking to stand next to her. "Why don't you show us the way, Ruby?"

Happy to help people out and making friends with them, Ruby gladly showed them the way not knowing who they really were. It was no coincidence that the little leader had bumped into them since they planned it after getting word from Roman who destroyed their Paladin. Cinder had ordered the two to keep a close eye on them and infiltrate their group to find out what they knew. They couldn't kill them, but misdirection would be better. Ruby was chosen seeing as how Torchwick claimed how naïve she was – and he was right. If the two had gone to the Schnee or any of the others, chances were that they wouldn't be getting anywhere with them.

After getting into the class and separating from Ruby to sit somewhere else, the two watched as the little girl interacted with her friends. The flamboyant thief noted that the ones to look out for were the big tittied blonde, the girl with a bow, Schnee, and miss champion. He also noted that the blonde boy would be a problem, but that was if they got careless. The two didn't know what Roman was thinking saying the blonde boy was something to look out for. Emerald would gag if she weren't in public at the sight of the two teams smiling and being so happy.

"I present to you, Crocea Mors MkII." Ruby held the repaired sword out to Jaune and unfurling it.

The blade was still the same, but it was the handle that was different. It was longer for him to grip with two hands with a bit of extra length for good balancing. The guard was simple and angled a bit just like the original, but it was different in color as it was tinted black. Feeling the handle, Jaune nodded how better it felt in his hands. Ruby had made it pure white iron chrome with black wraps to prevent slipping. Looking the handle over some more, Jaune noticed that the extra length added was long enough for another hand – it was even wrapped separately. Turing it down to look at the pommel, he saw Ruby left her mark on it with her own symbol.

"That's to let others know it's a Ruby Rose work." She grinned, tapping the extra length. "I added something extra for your dirty fighting."

"It's not _really_ dirty fighting." He mumbled, pulling on the extra length to see what she did.

He understood what she meant by a Ruby Rose work as the handle separated to show and hidden knife. It explained why the wrappings were similar to the style used in katanas – Ruby added a tanto to the handle. It was even colored in her image of a black blade with a red blade collar. Jaune really appreciated the extra mile she went for on it.

"Am I awesome or what?" The girl puffed her chest with nose in the air.

"Yes Ruby, you are awesome." He thanked her, putting the hidden blade back into its place. "It feels a lot better now too."

"I still want to know what the sword is made of." She mused, eyeing the sword like it was a mystery. "It took all that damage last night, but it doesn't have a single scratch or a dent in its body."

While she was in the forge, she tried super heating the blade to see how much it could take. It took tons of fire to get it glowing hot and when she tried hammering it, it didn't dent. Whatever the old family sword was made of, it was almost indestructible in her opinion. She didn't want to sound mean, but if Jaune ever broke the handle again – she'd ignore his pleas and make it into a high frequency blade and plaster her symbol on the guard.

Ruby's chat with Jaune had to be caught short as Glynda had walked in to start the usual routines of picking students to perform. The prodigy hoped the knight would be picked to show his upgraded sword. With all the improvements he's made so far, he was no longer the scraggly boy Weiss said he was.

"Starting today we will be doing four on one match ups." The professor informed the class, getting gasps and small cheers. "This is to prepare you all for the tournaments in cases where you find yourself outnumbered. For those new here, when your name is called please go to the locker rooms to get into combat attire and proceed down here for combat."

Ruby spotted team Sun along with the rest of his team waving at them from across the class. Seeing as the tournament was still a ways away, this was going to be fun for all of them. Turning to her team, Blake and Weiss were silent as they tried to ponder who would be their matchups if they were called while Yang was smiling while eyeing all teams. Looking to team JNPR, Pyrrha and Ren were composed while Nora mimicked Yang and their leader sat silently while holding his sword.

"For the first matchup we have," Glynda opened the screens to show a roulette of pictures popping up. "Blake Belladonna."

Blake sighed as she got up to head to the lockers. Just as she was close to exiting, the names that popped up made her reel back with wide eyes. "Against Team JNPR."

Blake's heart was now pounding as she saw the team she'd be fighting. She didn't know if this was the teacher's way of punishing her for the stunt the other night, but this felt like punishment. Not only would she be fighting a ninja and a walking tank, she'd also be facing Pyrrha Nikos. Not to mention the person she was helping train would be fighting her too. It was a bit poetic how her teachings would be used against her, but she didn't have to worry about him so much.

Looking to the team she'd be fighting, she saw Jaune waving to her with a sheepish smile. Clearly he felt uncomfortable fighting her too. Giving him a small glare to show she didn't want him to hold back, he nodded in return. Turning to the rest of his team the only one who looked manic was Nora as she popped her knuckles.

' _Great.'_ The cat faunus thought grimly, going off to change.

 **Arena floor**

After quickly getting changed, the five fighters got into positions and were waiting Goodwitch's command to start. While in the lockers, Blake thought of a quick strategy to use on the team. Nora would be the strongest hitter and she'd monopolize on that. The girl was fast with her hammer, but it wouldn't be fast enough to hit the cat ninja.

Speaking of ninjas, Ren would be another obstacle she'd need to get rid of. Just like her, he wouldn't be able to take too many hits, so she'd need to get him out first before anyone else. Once he was down, it was just a matter of witling away at whatever they had. After him, she'd target Nora and Pyrrha at the same time while keeping Jaune distracted by bullets to stop him from giving commands. If she got Nora mad enough, she might get lucky and have the hammer wielder smack Pyrrha out of the ring. No offence to Jaune, but he was the least of her worries at the moment.

"Begin!" At the sat of the word, Blake moved to Ren first and stuck close to him like white on rice. He may have been a problem at close to mid range, but if she stuck close to him, his teammates wouldn't dare open fire in case of hitting him. She was right to target him first since her weapon was eating away at his aura by attacking his unprotected limbs.

"I'm coming Renny." Nora shouted, charging forward to try and smack Blake away.

"Nora no!" Jaune shouted, seeing a glint in Blake's eye. She was baiting for Nora to go in knowing how close the two were. It went on deaf ears as Nora had her hammer in to swing. "Pyrrha, stop her!"

The champion was quick to hold Nora's hammer back with one hand. Since they were being watched, she made sure to make it seem she was strong enough to stop the hammer from striking with one hand when she was actually using her semblance to keep it in place. It was a good thing she did it too since Blake took the chance to try and use Ren as a shield. With that chance missed and the team now aware of what she was planning on, Blake took the next step and flipped the martial artist out of the ring. One thing she's learnt – always have a contingency to the contingency.

"Lie Ren is disqualified by ring out." Glynda announced, getting a cheer from team RWBY. The three were holding flags with their team names on it and were chanting Blake's name.

Regrouping, the three remaining members of JNPR circled Blake to try and get her confused. During their fight with Roman, Blake took note of how Pyrrha wasn't sure how to proceed in a group fight against one and had to rely on her leader's orders to have an idea. Looks like the Invincible Girl was more of a soloist than a team fighter – and Blake could monopolize on that now.

Taking the fight to the redhead, she played it safe by not going into kusarigama form. The last thing she needed was for her weapon to be used against her. It was dual wielding against shield and sword as they clashed. Jaune had tried to get into the mix by swinging while her back was turned, but all it did was make the two partners clash blades instead. While the to were locked, she got behind the blonde and kicked him to topple him in the redhead. She succeeded as the champion had landed on her back with her leader right on top of her – and from the looks of things, they were tangled up with Jaune's shield stuck under Pyrrha's elbow.

A shout from Weiss had the cat faunus jump out of the way from a hammer almost smashing where she had been standing. Landing feet away from Nora who was looking annoyed now, Blake taunted her to charge in now that her teammates were indisposed to stop her from going wild. It did the trick once Nora fired a grenade shot to get the extra boost for a mega swing. The cat faunus didn't even move from her spot with the same taunting pose ready to take the hit. As the hammer swung though, it fazed right through Blake and Nora was now flying out of the ring by her own force. Up in the stands, Yang along with a few students were laughing how Nora fell for such a trick.

"Nora Valkyrie is disqualified by ring out." Glynda called to the audience, having Nora's picture grayed out like Ren's. It wasn't that they were outmatched, but it was that Blake knew them too well and how to strike them.

Getting up from the ground, the two partners shared a look before Pyrrha charged in to attack Blake. The redhead was getting a few shots in, but with Blake's ability to make clones and great evasion skills, it was turning into a long match. The champion hadn't gotten hit yet, but Blake's dual wielding was hard to get by since she could only defend with one hand and strike with the other. This was one of the troubles she had mentioned to Jaune about – dual wielders.

While the two were going at it, Jaune was positioning himself in the right spot to do a daring move. He couldn't cut into offense without the chance of clashing with Pyrrha again, but if he timed it just right, they'd win this match by turning the tides. Just as Blake stepped back to swing once more and Pyrrha was lifting Akuou to block, he charged in and got between the two to take Blake's strike with his shield and catch his partner's shield. It confused the two females, but after pushing Blake back, Jaune grabbed the redhead's shield and handed her his own sword.

"Think you can handle it?" He whispered, getting a nod in return.

Now holding both shields in each arm, Jaune watched as the two females were now evenly fighting in a dual wield fight. While Blake had the experience, Pyrrha was still knowledgeable and had her semblance to stop any strikes from hitting her. The cat faunus was panicking now as she was being pushed back. Using her semblance to create clones to take hits was one thing, but with Pyrrha not being blinded by a shield, it was getting difficult to surprise her. The champion had learnt her pattern of attacks with her semblance and could now predict how she'd strike.

Feeling her foot near the edge of the ring, the swinging stopped as Pyrrha had her partner's blade pointed at Blake's throat. The mellow girl could go two ways – either she yielded with her aura in the yellow, or she could step off the ring and call the match.

"I yield." She relented, holding her hands up in surrender. Her team still cheered of how she got two out of four and that was fine for her. With the sword now not pointing at her throat, the two females smiled and joined the rest of the fighters in the center of the stage for their evaluations. Looking to the blonde knight who gave his sword away, she noticed how he discretely placed the hidden knife he had in his belt back into the hilt of his sword. Looks like she wasn't the only one to think of contingencies.

"A very stunning performance you five." The disciplinarian commented. "Miss Belladonna, I commend you on using your opponent's weaknesses against them. Great show in controlling the distance of the arena and your opponents and a smart tactic to use ring outs against powerhouses and speed fighters. Can you tell me where you made your mistake?"

"I ignored Jaune and focused all my attention on Pyrrha after Nora was taken out." She replied, feeling that was where she went wrong.

"Exactly." Glynda nodded, turning to the team. "Miss Nikos may have been the bigger threat, but with her partner being on the side to support her and analyze the situation he was able to find a proper solution that turned the tide in his team's favor. With a better foresight, you can achieve winning when outnumbered."

"Thank you Miss Goodwitch." Blake bowed, having a small smirk as her team cheered her name once more.

"Team JNPR, good but with minor improvements needed." The blonde woman stated. "Remember to keep an open ear for your leader's commands and be cautious of one another when attacking together. Miss Valkyrie, you are lucky your teammates were quick to stop you or your partner may have gone into the red by your hand. The same applies for you Miss Nikos and Mr. Arc. Getting stuck in a match would have cost you dearly if your teammate wasn't present."

Nodding, Goodwitch had dismissed the class with the two teams meeting up to hang out. Team JNPR already had a talk with the disciplinarian on their counseling schedule and had no need to be called behind. With the tournament, the dance, and counseling, Jaune's training with team RWBY had to be compressed into the weekends where they were all free to do whatever they wanted.

"You guys were so cool." Ruby gushed as she fawned over her friends. "Blake was like 'nin nin' and everyone was like hwotcha! Then Jaune comes out of nowhere like kaboom! Then he gives Pyrrha his sword and the fighting got cooler. It was awesome!"

The group laughed as Ruby retold her edition of the fight. Today was a Monday, so she'd have to meet professor Oobleck for her first counseling while Ren and Nora would see Goodwitch at the same time. From what the disciplinarian had told team JNPR, they'd be coming in pairs by partners to save time from her schedule and to see how they were fairing. Seeing as there wasn't any homework to be done, Jaune told the group he'd be going to the gym to do his scheduled training and to test out his upgraded sword. That earned him a nod from Blake and Yang for how dedicated he was to improving and a squeal from Ruby to tell him how it held up once he was done – though the small worried look Nora was sending him was something he didn't understand.

 **Gym**

The blonde leader of JNPR gasped as he finished doing his pull ups. He still couldn't reach thirty yet, but doing half of it once and taking a short break before going again was still okay. Now all that was left to do was shadowboxing before going to the training bots. Going to the mirrors, he had to suppress the negative emotions welling up inside him as he looked at the person staring back at him.

Despite all the encouraging words his friends and teachers told him, he still hated the sight before him. The blonde hair, the blue eyes; everything just stirred him the wrong way as it reminded him of what was home.

' _Don't worry if you don't make it as a huntsman. You can always come back home if it doesn't work out.'_

How depressing. Clenching his fists, he glared at the face glaring back at him that reminded him of his parents. He didn't hate them – no child could hate their parents who gave them nothing but love and support growing up. He knows it was hard for his dad to give them a lot, but what they said as he left hurt him so much. They could sugarcoat it as much as they wanted, but he wasn't an idiot to not know the hidden message. They didn't think he had what it took to be a huntsman.

If only his friends knew what he was using to fuel aid in his tranquil fury. With every swing of his sword, with every punch and kick, and with every dirty tactic thought up and used in solo combat; it was always that memory. It always had been since Blake told him to use his anger as a weapon. It was blinding at first, but now he's learnt how to use it properly.

He wasn't good enough now, but he'd prove them wrong. His family would see that he could handle it. And if they still couldn't believe in him when his friends did, then that was fine. At least someone believed in him when even he couldn't. Maybe then, the reflection staring back at him would be of someone that believed in him.

 **Oobleck's Office**

Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck was an observant man. This trait was what served him well in his hunting and archeology, and it went doubly so in the classroom. He could have chosen any of Team RWBY to see him first, but he chose their leader for a reason. He believed that Ruby Rose, the sweet young girl that made it in two years early, hated him.

The moment their focus in class came to politics and the history of mistakes made in the past, the young one had done her best to deafen him out. While still being civil and respectful in her own way, what concerned him was her understanding of the world and how it worked. He could care less if she hated him or not – he's had a few teachers in the past he disliked at her age as well. But her feelings towards him were hindering her outlook he was trying to present to the whole class in preparations for when they left the walls of Beacon. Her actions along with her team showed just how blinded her judgments were.

"I'm here for my counseling Professor Oobleck." The girl of subject entered his office.

" _Doctor_ Oobleck." He stressed on the title with a smirk. "I didn't take eight years of studying to get my PhD to not be called as such."

"Sorry." She said meekly, walking to take a seat as he motioned her to do so.

"Tell me Ruby, do you know why you are here?" The bespectacled man began, starting off with a question to have her get comfortable talking to him.

"Professor Ozpin said I'm here because of my judgments." The hooded girl said, playing with the hem of her skirt.

"And do you know what he meant by that?" He pressed on, getting a shake of her head. "What you did was valiant and brave to try and find evidence to give to the proper authorities. Every huntsman and huntress would commend you and your friends for taking the initiative at such a young age. But the people we protect wont see it that way."

"But we were doing what we could to minimize the casualties!" She argued, leaning forward in her seat.

"I believe you." Oobleck raised a hand, letting her lean back. "Ozpin and Glynda would believe you too. But the counsel and the family of the people hurt wouldn't see it that way. To them, they saw casualties and death. This is where your team's judgment comes into question. Ruby, sometimes we don't act not because we don't want to, but because acting on the spot would bring more problems."

"But what if not doing something would make things worse?" She asked, not seeing how what she did was wrong.

"Then we fix it when it shows." Ruby didn't know what to say to that. "You're team went in blind not knowing what to expect. In the process you ran into a dangerous criminal and ended up in this situation. If you were in Vale, you'd see that the Atlas Military were present for a reason. They aren't there merely for show, but for the security of Vale and it's people. If trouble was to arrive, then the General would have dispatched a group to handle the situation."

There weren't any holes in the teacher's explanation that Ruby could find. Just like always, she was stuck being wrong whenever he gave a lecture.

"Do you hate me?" The question Oobleck asked her out of nowhere had caught her off guard. "Or is it you find it frustrating with me as your professor."

"No!" She waved her hands in front of her in panic. "You're a great teacher. And I don't hate you. I don't!"

"So it's the lessons I'm teaching you dislike." He deduced, getting a small nod from her. "What is it you don't like about my lectures? The topic? The questions?"

"It's just frustrating." She admitted, getting a nod for her to continue. "I don't get why it has to be so complicated. If something is wrong then it's wrong. Why is there something like a law to stop the criminals from being put in jail or another law to stop hunters from bringing them in? Why any of that complicated stuff?"

"Ah, the same question many of my past students asked." It made Ruby feel a bit better knowing she wasn't the first to have this problem. "Remember what I told you of the constitution being made for the interests of those who wrote it?"

Receiving a nod, he continued with his lecture. "The same could be said for laws made. Some… Most of them are made for the interest of the civilians and are used against hunters."

"Why?" It seemed the counseling Ooobleck planned for the leader of team RWBY would be turned into an extra lecture for her to catch up with her peers. Perhaps the extra lesson would help her better her judgment and help her class standing in the process.

"Tell me Ruby, what do you know about the Counsel?" If he were to start from somewhere, he'd start from the source. By the end of the counseling, Ruby would be coming to class with a wider perspective of things and a need to question the doctor in their remaining meetings.

 **Back in the gym**

Pyrrha had been watching from the start as Jaune had been training. Before Nora had left with Ren to go to their counseling, she suggested for the redhead to watch over Jaune without him knowing while he was in the gym. She wanted to question why, but the look in the normally happy ginger's eye told her it wasn't something she could say easily. Agreeing to do so, she had watched him do the basic routines and was impressed by his growth. But once it came to the shadowboxing, the champion was concerned as the normally calm and happy look in her partner's eyes was gone and replaced with that angry glare he had when he was obsessed with training.

For minutes, the blonde had done nothing but glared at his reflection while clenching and unclenching his fists. It worried her how he was looking at himself with so much anger in his eyes. She didn't know what it was he was thinking, but she knew it couldn't be something good if it was bringing this side out of him again. Just as she was about to step out to talk to him, his face became unreadable after a few breaths and he went through the motions of punching at his reflection. The same expression on his face held even after he finished to go grab his weapon and spar against one of the training bots. Unlike the last training she saw him in, he had programmed for four of the drones to come out against him. It seemed he wanted to be prepared in case his name was called for a one on four fight in class.

Seeing him move, she could see he was using the basics of everything from hand-to-hand strikes to sword swings with a few bashes from his shield. His name hadn't been called for a while in combat class, so she hasn't seen him fight solo until now. Looking over his way of fighting and using a few dirty tactics to get out of tight situations, she could see he was working as a strategic fighter instead of a berserker. The look on his face was emotionless as he was in deep focus of the situation.

After taking down two of the four bots, he placed his shield on his back and held his sword in both hands in a home stance. She thought he was going to try out a two-handed method of sword fighting. As the two robots charged at him, she was surprised as he thrust forward and stabbed the first drone in the chest and pulled on his hilt to take out a hidden blade then stabbed it into the neck of the other drone so quickly. With a beep on his scroll, he nodded at the time it took him to finish the match.

 **57.2 secs**

"Don't stop. One more time." He muttered to himself, putting the hidden blade back in his hilt. Maybe once Blake was free, he could ask her advice on how to dual wield two blades. Setting up the drones once more, he got into his stance and got ready to beat his time.

The number of times Jaune had tried went from one more to seven more. All Pyrrha did was watch in amazement as he continued to whittle at the time each time. The seconds were getting shorter as his last time was twenty-nine point eight seconds. The drones were put into random performance to not have him used to the same patterns in each practice, but he was adapting to the situation as the seconds passed. As he sheathed his blade and sat down to catch his breath and cool off, she knew he was done for the night. When he lay down on the cold floor to rest, she thought it was time to make herself known while silently walking to him. She didn't say anything as she stood over him. The look in his eyes was back to how he usually was with her and the others.

"How long have you been here, Pyr?" He asked, sitting back up to stand. She stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder and sitting next to him.

"I was watching from the start." She said, not taking her hand off his shoulder. Unlike how it was last time, he wasn't tensed up and suffering from hypertension. She was glad he wasn't hurting himself like before. "The look in your eyes now… it's not so angry."

"I finally got that tranquil fury. At least I think I was able to." The blonde said, getting a giggle out of her.

"From the way you took down those training bots, I can safely say you've got it." The champion told him, get a sigh of relief in return.

"That's good to hear." He said, leaning back to relax a bit more. "You're a really great friend Pyr."

"So are you, Jaune." She said in return, inching closer to him. After minutes of silence between the two, she mustered up the courage to say what she wanted.

"Jaune." The redhead said, putting her hand on his. "I want you to know something."

"What is it?" The tone in her voice was concerning to him. It sounded urgent, but also like it was hard for her to say. Seeing her struggle a bit, he thought to assure her he was listening. "Whatever it is Pyr, I'm here to help."

"I just want you to know…" She repeated, feeling a knot getting stuck in her throat. _'Just say it Pyrrha. He's right here.'_ "I…"

"I know it can be frustrating." She said, feeling like a coward for not saying what she really wanted. "And it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount. But I want you to know I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves. You've grown so much Jaune. And I know it's just the beginning. I want you to know… I'm just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you Jaune."

"Thanks Pyrrha." He said, using her real name and pulling her in for a hug. He didn't know if it was to hide his tears or because he wanted to hug her so much, but he thought it could have been both reasons. "You don't know how much you mean to me too."

Shakily lifting her arms, Pyrrha wrapped her arms around his back to return the hug. He felt incredibly warm to the touch from his exercise, but she didn't mind the heat. She may not have been able to confess all her feelings, but this was nice too. There was one thing that did bother her though.

"You stink." She muttered, scrunching her face after inhaling his sour odor from his training. As she tried to let go, she found that his hold on her had gotten tighter. "Jaune?"

"Now I gotcha." He whispered, not letting go with a fake evil tone in his voice. He couldn't catch her the last time, but he did it now.

"Jaune, let go!" She giggled, trying to push herself away. "You really stink!"

"Bask in the ambience Pyr." He laughed, not letting go of her.

It got too much from her struggling that he ended toppling over her. Pushing himself up, he saw her staring at him with her emerald eyes shining brightly. The way her hair was now spread out was like a beautiful picture that the sight beneath him stunned him. Neither knew what was happening, but as she reached a hand to touch his cheek, he felt his face slowly lowering down to hers. Just as their lips were about to touch though, a nagging feeling in the back of Jaune's mind told him to stop and he pulled back from almost giving his partner a kiss.

Pyrrha watched as her partner and crush had pulled away. As he got up, the look in his eyes hurt her to see doubt and confusion.

"Jaune?" She called to him as he kept backing away. Was something wrong with her? Did she do something for him to back away?

"I'm sorry Pyr." He whispered, running out of the gym and leaving her alone.

By the time Pyrrha would make it back to their dorm, her leader wouldn't be there to greet her with the same smile or a game for her to join in. He wouldn't be in the dorm at all.

 **END**

 **AN: Curse your stupid insecurities Jaune! Now the Arkos fans are sharpening their spears to chase you down for the scene to go differently.**

 **So we've got character building on Ruby's end. We also get to see a bit of the relationship between Jaune and Pyrrha growing again. But looks like the foreboding Yang thought was true after all. How could this be? Experience.**

 **But I'm not going to go off on my past. This chapter was a doozy to think of. Initially there was going to be a blocking from Blake and Yang to stop this from happening, but I went against it. Sure they're concerned, but I couldn't imagine it playing out so well. There was even a shower scene with Yang boasting of her body with the two females trying to be conservative. (And I hear the pervs lamenting something lost)**

 **Happy New Year readers. I just saw episode 8 of vol 4 and I am loving it. Some foreboding and a bit of a history lesson, but still a good episode. Aloehisja saying see you next time and look forward to next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Hey there readers. Last chapter we had a bitter Arkos moment. That still doesn't mean ships are confirmed, it just means something is happening.**

 **To that one guest that asked if Jaune would be like Warden from For Honor, no he's not like a Warden. Just like his partner, he's learning to have a versatile form that doesn't follow any pattern. He can mix things up, but he's not purely of one form. However, I looked over For Honor characters and he seems more like the Peacekeeper with a shield story wise than a Warden. …Hmm. Idea forming.**

 **Now that that's said, let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 10:** Complicated

Pyrrha was pacing in the dorm as she waited for her partner to come back from wherever he was. After the event two nights ago, she wanted to talk to him of what happened and fix what was between them. Before he pulled away, there was a look in his eye that showed he wanted to do it – that he wanted her. And then she saw fear and doubt as he ran out into the night. What was it that went through his mind, and where was he now? She's asked team RWBY if they saw the blonde, but they couldn't confirm anything of his whereabouts. The last person to see him was Ruby, and it just a glance as she was coming back from her counseling with Oobleck. When morning came, he wasn't in his bed to greet the team or give her that bright smile on her way to the showers. He had even skipped classes and wasn't even in the cafeteria.

"Where are you Jaune?" She muttered, taking her scroll out to message him one more time. This was the seventh time message him since he didn't pick up after she tried calling the last four times.

"Just give him space Pyrrha." Nora of all people advised her. "Let him think things through on his own and when he's ready to talk to you he'll come around."

"But we don't know where he is." She shot back with worry in her tone. "What if he's not in the right state of mind, or he get's lost in Vale? Maybe his scroll died out and -"

"Pyrrha!" Nora shouted to snap her out of her panic. "Stop panicking."

"Jaune has shown us that he's a great leader and can be trusted on his own." Ren added in, looking up from his book. "I know we're all worried, but we just have to have faith in him. Whatever happened to have him run off, I'm sure he'll come around just like always."

' _But what if he doesn't?'_ Pyrrha didn't tell her team of what the two had almost done in the gym in case word spread out. It wasn't that she was ashamed, but she didn't want Jaune having others harass him with any gossip spreading around. "I just want to know that he's okay."

Nodding, Nora and Ren let her go through her process of worrying. Chances are Jaune would contact one of them to tell them he was fine and he was coming back.

 **With Jaune**

 **Unknown alley**

Jaune wasn't doing fine at the moment and wouldn't be coming back to his team any time soon. He still felt conflicted of what he was about to do with Pyrrha and it was eating away at him. He wasn't stupid to think that he wasn't attracted to her – any straight male would be attracted to her. What ate away at him was this nagging in his head telling him he didn't deserve to be with her.

' _You lied and cheated your way in while she worked her ass off to get where she was at.'_ A voice of one of his sisters taunted him.

' _Ozpin gave me a chance and I've been improving.'_ He clenched his eyes shut, trying to drive the voices away. He wanted to go back so much, but he couldn't do it now while he was in inner turmoil.

' _You don't have a chance with her. She's a champion that can win without using cheap tricks to win a fight.'_ His fathers voice came next with the laughter of his family behind him. _'Why couldn't you be more like her?'_

' _Shut up!'_ The blonde teen banged his fist into the ground.

' _She'll get tired of you. You know why?'_ Another of her sister's voices taunted him. _'Because you're not good enough.'_

' _You're not good for anything.'_

' _You're a dork.'_

' _Loser.'_

' _Weakling.'_

' _Useless.'_

The taunting wouldn't stop no matter how hard Jaune tried to drown it out. This was all in his head but he couldn't stop it. Why couldn't he stop it?

' _She'll leave you for someone better.'_ His mothers voice whispered into his ear. _'Like that Cardin fellow. Now he's a real man.'_

"Fuck YOU!" He shouted to the skies, snapping as he couldn't control his temper any longer.

"Ooh, scathing." A familiar flamboyant voice echoed in the alley. Turning to the voice, Jaune saw Roman Torchwick standing feet away from him with cane, cigar, and bowler hat. "What's got you all twisted up cowboy?"

 **Junior's Nightclub**

"You've been awfully quiet cowboy." The flamboyant man said to the silent blonde as he waited for his drink. "I brought you here so we could have a chat, but it's like I'm the only voice around. Even Neo isn't so quiet, and she's silent."

The quiet girl poked Jaune's cheek to show how bored she was of him. For someone so small she was able to drag him effortlessly into the bar and even threw him onto a stool without so much as a grunt. Or maybe she did grunt and he didn't hear it.

"Your new look is something." Roman continued to talk, looking Jaune over. "The chaps I love. But the hoodie and armor is something I can't ignore. That outfit on the town though - the brown vest and gray button up was a nice combo. Ever thought of changing you look to-"

"Why are you here?" Jaune cut him off, getting tired of hearing the man speak.

"Now that's a question." The thief said, swirling his drink with a deep look. "I ask myself that question all the time, and it keeps me up some nights. Do we really have in this great plan called life, or are we just making our own meaning to life that comes to the same result as every living being? Sometimes I-"

"I meant why are you here in a club that you dragged me to." The blonde interrupted, not wanting to stay with the two criminals. The only reason he hadn't run out was because he was smart enough to know the short girl could catch him and bring him back to his stool. "If you're going to kill me or interrogate me then just get it done with."

The two thieves shared a glance with each other before turning back to the blonde between them. Putting his drink down, Roman spun on his chair to face the blonde completely.

"I thought it over, but killing you wouldn't bring me anything." He answered, getting Jaune's full attention now. "See kid, I'm a _master_ criminal. Know what that means? It means I'm good at what I do and I know how to do it good. Me killing a Beacon student? That's unneeded attention, and I don't want that."

"But why bring me here?" The student asked, not getting the full answer he wanted.

"Well, you interest me kid." The ginger man said, looking into Jaune's eyes with concern. "I see you and I'm reminded of a young blonde me. I can't bear to see someone like that go through troubles alone."

Jaune's shoulders relaxed as he took in the thief's words. Maybe under all the crime, this man wasn't such a scoundrel as people thought.

"Pffthahaha!" The scoundrel laughed, seeing Jaune's face relax. "Yeah right. Like I could have ever been like you."

Scratch that. This man was a complete and utter asshole with no redeeming qualities to his mascara face.

"You are too predictable, you know that?" He continued, ignoring the glare Jaune was sending him. "You're a smart one, I'll give you that, but you keep over thinking so much instead of going with the flow of things. Keep that up and you wont be getting anything in life."

"Thank you for the words of wisdom." Jaune said with sarcasm laced in is tone.

"That's more like it. See kid you're smart. I can see that. And you're also the kind of person that'll do whatever it takes to get what you want." Seeing Jaune glaring at him hard at that description, the ginger tipped his glass to him. "Am I wrong? Could have sworn your face was on some forged papers I made. Maybe it was another blonde boy."

Panic was now on Jaune's mind as Roman said that. It was clear on his face by how the criminal was smirking at him with a gleam in his eyes.

"Chances don't just pop up out of coincidence kid. Next time you think you got a good one, take a real close look at it one more time." The older man told him.

"Well your papers weren't that good since Ozpin found me out." Jaune blurted, putting a fist on the counter. "And he still gave me the chance to stay in Beacon."

"I'm not getting through to you at all, am I? If _he_ gave you that chance, that means he's got something planned. The reason _I_ helped you is because I had my own plans." What he was saying was making sense to the blonde, but he didn't want to believe it.

"What were your plans with me?" Jaune asked, seeing something in what he said that bothered him.

"I wasn't lying when I said you interest me. I want you to keep doing what your doing and keep getting better at it. Keep fighting dirty, keep getting better, and keep trying to get in my way with little red and her crew. So with that said and you boring me now…" Roman said, turning back to his drink and waving him off. "Neo, if you would kindly."

What happened next was Neo cheap-shoting the blonde with a chokehold that had him out in three seconds fast. It was always easy to knock someone out that fast even if they had aura. Just get them unexpected and go in for the kill. With the blonde now passed out on the counter, the ice cream girl gave her partner a look questioning his real motive.

"Neo, dear. I see our ticket out of this hot problem we've both landed in." He said, getting a raised brow to question his sanity. "Just dump him back where you found him. You'll see. It's a work in progress."

He wasn't lying when he said the kid was smart. A little rough around the edges, but he could work with it. He wasn't going to say he'd consider bringing the kid in for a partnership – Roman Torchwick didn't do partnerships. If you asked about Neo being his partner, he'd tsk at their naivety of him. Neo wasn't a partner despite what papers may say. People may call him a thief, but he thought of himself as a businessman – a very stylish and great businessman. And just like all great businessmen, he made investments. That's what Neo was to him and she knew it; and that's what this blonde cowboy knight was going to be too.

How? The kid wasn't like the group that was fighting him - he was strategic and cunning. He knew how to use others and when to use them well. You could never have enough smart people in your arsenal - and lately, Roman's been running out of smart people under him. The blonde wasn't smarter than him, that's for sure. If he wanted some genius to work with he would have checked somewhere else. No, Roman needed someone smart, but not smarter than him. So the kid would be his little project so to speak. A key ingredient in getting him out of this funk he had with a certain burning bitch.

 **With Jaune**

The blonde woke up on a bench in a public area close to the alley he was in. It was morning once more and he was still fully clothed with his weapon still strapped to his side. He couldn't believe he was with Roman Torchwick, a notorious criminal. Fishing his pocket for his scroll, he felt his wallet was a bit lighter. Opening it up, he saw he was a lot of lien short. At least the little thief was courteous enough to leave him something. Although, it wouldn't be enough to get him a ride back to Beacon.

What Roman said was still in his head. He didn't want to think on it too much, so he chose to leave it for a later date. Finding his scroll, he saw he had tons of messages and missed calls from his partner and from his friends. The nagging from his family had came back once more and it was joined with other voices – his friends.

' _They want to laugh at you.'_ His sister's voice reverberated in his mind. _'They all want to laugh at you.'_

' _Pyrrha told them how you were going to kiss her and they think you're a loser.'_ Another sister added in.

' _You really wanted to kiss Pyrrha Nikos?'_ Weiss' voice came next in a harsher snark tone. _'If you weren't good enough for me, why'd you think you're good enough for her you dunce?'_

' _I can't believe Vomit Boy wanted to make out with her.'_ Yang's voice taunted next with giggling from Ruby and Blake. _'He's not man enough for any of us.'_

' _Oh poor, naïve, STUPID Jaune.'_ Nora's voice echoed with the same sweet tone. _'Like any girl would ever think you're attractive.'_

' _You have no friends Jaune.'_ His parents' voice came last. _'You don't have anyone. So come back home and give up on this silly dream of being a hunter.'_

Despite all the nagging that poured on, he picked a message to read. The first one was from Ruby.

 **Ruby:** _Hey Jaune. Pyrrha said you weren't in the dorm this morning. Please message back if you're okay. We're starting to worry too._

' _They're lying, son.'_ His father's voice echoed in his head. _'Stop reading.'_

Pushing that voice away, he opened up all the messages and voice mails to see his friends were really concerned on his whereabouts. Even Weiss had sent a message along with Sun.

 **Yang:** _Are you okay? We were supposed to have our usual workout together, but Pyrrha said you went missing. If you're in trouble, just give me a call and I'll be there._

 **Blake:** _Please text back to let us know you're fine. Ruby is pacing around thinking you're off testing your sword on Grimm all alone. It's starting to get me worried too. P.S. I'd like to borrow the next volume when you get back._

 **Weiss:** _First Blake and now you. Is this going to be a thing where students start running away from their team?_ _Whatever your problem is, face it straight on like how I taught you. And stop worrying us you dolt._

 **Nora:** _Jaune! Please come back. It's so boring without you. Ren won't stop using Oddjob and Pyrrha's too busy waiting for you to come back to play with me. …Are you gone because I ate your nuggets? If you are, I'm sorry. I wont do it again._

 **Ren:** _I feel you should take your time to sort over whatever it is that's bothering you, but please be careful. I have fait you'll be coming back soon, but we're all still worried._

 **Sun:** _Yo man, where're you at? I wanted to hang with you and your team today, but they said you were missing. If something's up, you know I got your back._

The nagging had completely vanished after reading the messages and listening to the voicemails. The blonde knight had even laughed at a few of them. His chest felt lighter and he felt it was getting easier to breath. Feeling his eyes, stinging a bit he touched his eyelids to see he was crying.

' _Arc men don't cry.'_ His father's voice scolded him.

' _Well I'm Jaune before I'm an Arc.'_ He shot back to his thoughts, shutting it up.

Looking over his partner's unread messages, he decided to play them all.

 **Pyrrha:** _Jaune? Please pick up. I don't know why you ran from me, but please come back._

 **Pyrrha:** _Jaune where are you? I'm worried and I just want you safe._

 **Pyrrha:** _Please answer. At least pick up to tell me you're okay. I don't want anything bad to happen to you._

 **Pyrrha:** _We don't have to talk about what happened in the gym if that's why you're not here. We can pretend it didn't happen and act like everything's normal._

 **Pyrrha:** _Please come back soon Jaune. It doesn't feel the same here without you._

Jaune stopped listening to the messages. He's worried his friends too much and it was time to go home. The only problem was that he didn't have any money on him to get back to Beacon. If he walked, there was a chance he'd make it by tomorrow morning, but he didn't know the directions that well. While he was thinking of a way to get back to school, he got another message on his scroll. Looking at the caller ID, he saw that it was unknown.

 _We'll be in touch cowboy. P.S Always remember to play dirty._

Only one person called him 'cowboy' and he as just kidnapped by him and his short partner a short while ago. He wanted to delete the number and just get a new scroll, but a nagging in his brain that wasn't negative told him to keep it. Listening to the nagging, he kept the number and nicknamed it _Mascara._ For now, he needed to find a way back to his friends. If he had bothered to look around before leaving, Jaune would have noticed a short girl watching him the whole time while holding her scroll out. Roman may have had his plans for the blonde, but that didn't mean Neo couldn't use him too.

After hours of trekking, Jaune couldn't think of a way to get back to Beacon. It was nearly midnight and the only places open now were shady places he didn't want to go to. He high tailed it out of a block after a fat woman named Chocolate Thunda came out of a strip club and called him over for a dance. He really wished he had a ride to get back to school – like a car or even a bike.

"I am so stupid." The blonde muttered to himself as he did a rewind on his thoughts. He knew someone who had a bike that could get from Beacon to Vale in a short time.

Pulling out his scroll, he hoped she was still awake at this time of night and was willing to come pick him up. After a few rings with him tapping his foot in hopes she was awake, he jumped when she answered – although a bit sleepy. _"Hello?"_

"Yang?" Jaune said, happy to hear her voice. "Yang, it's me Jaune."

" _Jaune?"_ She mumbled before sounding more awake. _"Jaune?! Where are you? Oh my god, you had us all worried. What are you doing calling this late?"_

"I know it's late and I'm sorry." He apologized, looking over his surroundings for any landmarks. "I ran into a bit of trouble and now I don't have any money on me to get back to school. Do you think you could come pick me up?"

" _sigh* …Where are you now?"_ Yang grumbled, with the sounds of footsteps and sheets moving being heard in the background.

"Thanks Yang." The lost blonde said, looking for any street signs or a building easily noticeable. After giving her the street name and a building sign, Yang confirmed she knew the place.

" _Don't thank me yet."_ She mumbled, hanging up and opening the door.

With his ride now on the way, all that was left for the blonde was to sit and wait. While doing so, he might as well think of what he needed to say to everyone once he got back. Of course there was the apology for worrying them but there was also the matter of what to say to his partner. They couldn't just go their four years ignoring what happened and he didn't want to run away from it anymore. Depending on how fast Yang could get to where he was at, this would take a while.

 **One and a half hours later**

The leader of team JNPR finally had an idea of what he wanted to say to his partner. …Okay, that was a lie. He had absolutely no clue of what to do once he made it back to his dorm. His mind was set not to ignore what happened and talk it over, but how to do it was still something he couldn't plan out. Maybe he was over thinking things instead of going for something simple.

"Someone rang for a pick up?" Yang's voice brought him back to reality. Looking up, he saw the busty blonde leaning on her bike with Blake right next to her. They had their arms crossed as they looked at him sitting on the curb. "You got some explaining to do Jaune."

That was bad. If the tone in her voice wasn't a clue, Yang usually called him a nickname or something else whenever she was in a good mood. Blake wasn't looking any better as she was looking at him with a critical eye. It was clear he wouldn't be heading back to Beacon unless he fessed up to them.

"Where do I start?" He asked, getting them to share a glance before turning back to him. It was Blake to answer him.

"Why don't you start from where you ran away?"

 **Café**

It was uncomfortable for the three of them to be standing while Jaune told his reasons for running, so they found a café that still had some chairs and tables out to sit. As the blonde told what happened between him and Pyrrha and how he ran off into Vale to sort his thoughts out, Yang sighed as she knew this would happen. Her dad was an okay guy and also a goof like Jaune, but when her ass hat of a mom upped and left them, he went through troubles. He kept blaming himself thinking it was something about him that wasn't good enough for her to stay; and it fell onto her too, making her think there was something about her that didn't make her womb carrier stay for her either.

But then Summer came into the picture and made Yang feel loved once more. Her dad was recovering with the beautiful woman's help and Yang felt like she had a real mom that loved her. When Ruby was born, she was scared the love would go away and she'd be replaced, but it wasn't. Summer loved them both just as much and Ruby became someone Yang loved like nothing else. But then the happiness went away when Summer Rose died.

Her dad fell into despair once more and Yang tried to shoulder on for her and Ruby's sake. She was still so young and her dad wasn't doing any better despite all the encouragement he had. He was a broken man and the only one that could help him was him. It took the blonde girl bringing Ruby with her into the woods alone to look for her mom and getting saved by their uncle for their dad to get a reality check on things. That look in Jaune's eyes she sees whenever he looked himself in the mirror, was the same look her dad always had whenever he saw his face in a booze bottle. She shared the story of her almost getting herself along with Ruby killed, but she didn't go deep about her dad's condition that time.

Sighing as Jaune finished his story, Yang clasped her hands together, trying to think of the proper words to say in this time. Collecting herself, she thought of everything she wanted to say to her dad when she was a little girl and tried to fix it for her talk with him.

"Tell me, Jaune." She said slowly in a calm tone. "Who do you want to be? Easier question, what do you want to be?"

"I–I want to be a huntsman." He said, not knowing where she was going with this.

"You want to be hero." Blake muttered next to her partner, getting a nod from him.

"Why do you want to be a hero?" Yang continued to ask, not letting up.

"I don't know." He whispered after a few seconds of thinking. Not so long ago, Jaune would have said to be just like his dad, but now he didn't know why he wanted to be a hero.

"Then why do you want to be a huntsman?" Yang went on, not stopping.

"I don't know." He whispered once more, not knowing what he wanted anymore.

"Then what do you know?!" The brawler slammed a fist on the table, getting Blake to flinch out of surprise. Collecting herself, she ran a hand through her face and took a deep breath. "Then tell me why you wanted us to help train you? And don't say 'I don't know!'"

"Because." The blonde said, clenching his fists tight. "I wasn't good enough."

"Good enough for what?" She leaned in, narrowing her eyes. "You said you don't know why you wanted to be a hero. You said you didn't know why you wanted to be a huntsman. So what is it you weren't good enough for?"

"I wasn't good enough for my team." He admitted, looking to her with pain in his eyes. "I wasn't good enough to lead them then, and I'm still not good enough to lead them now."

Both partners shared a look with each other at his statement. They knew he had self-esteem issues, but for it to be like this despite how far he's improved, it was looking more serious. Not knowing what to do anymore, Yang motioned for Blake to help her out.

"Jaune, who is it you're trying to compare yourself to?" She asked, edging closer to be next to him. "This cant just be coming out of nowhere. There has to be someone you're comparing yourself to think you're not good enough."

When he didn't say anything, the two thought of listing names down.

"Is it me?" Yang asked, leaning in to see for any signs it was her. Seeing none as he shook his said no, she nodded crossing her name off. In any other situation she may have joked about her not being good enough to compare, but now wasn't the time. "What about Blake?"

"It's not anyone from your team." He informed them, mentally relieving them.

"So is it someone from your team?" Blake asked next. "It's Pyrrha, isn't it?"

"No." That shocked them. Pyrrha may not say it, but she was the best in their group of friends. She was second to Weiss in academics, but she trumped the heiress everywhere else.

"Is it Torchwick?" Yang threw a name out, not knowing who else to put out. Sun came to mind, but he and Jaune seemed like good pals for any of the two to hold some sort of envy. Getting a raised deadpan look from not only the knight but also her partner, Yang knew that wasn't the case. "Sorry. But if it isn't Pyrrha or any of us, then who is it?"

"…My dad." Jaune said in a whisper loud enough for the two to hear.

"What is it about your dad that's so great?" The busty blonde asked, trying to figure out what made Jaune think of himself so small in comparison.

"He became a huntsman without lying his way in." He started, listing everything his father was that he wasn't. "He was able to stand up to anyone that challenged him, man and Grimm – and with just a sword and shield too. He's lead people to victory. He was able to get a wife and raise a family while still being a huntsman. He's always been good at whatever he does… and I'm just me."

"I don't know your dad." Blake said after a few seconds. "But I like you more than what you described of him."

"Thanks Blake." He said, touched she said something like that to him.

"Same goes for me, bud." Yang smiled, pacing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He may sound like the ultimate manly man, but I'd rather hang with you than him. So stop trying to compare yourself to your old man and just start being yourself."

Jaune nodded as he felt better by what they said. They were right too – he wasn't his dad, so he should stop comparing himself to him. The only problem was: He didn't know who he was as a person. He's been trying to hard to be the same image as his father, he didn't know if that was the real him or just a copy. The knight would have to go on a soul-searching journey to find what was the real him.

"So I guess we're going back to Beacon now?" He asked Yang, wanting to go back and meet up with his team.

"Ahahaha, nope." Yang laughed, shocking the two of them. " _You_ may have forgotten, but the dance is tomorrow and I doubt you even have a tux for the event."

"But it's late now." He argued. "Where are we going to find a tailor that has a tux?"

"I know a guy." She smiled coyly, having a place in mind to 'borrow' a suit. Looking Jaune over, she smiled as she imagined him in a certain color. "You're okay with red and black, right?"

"I don't have money to pay?" The knight said weakly, just wanting to go home.

"If we play our cards right, it'll be free." The devious look in her eyes said it was non-negotiable. Jaune was at her mercy since she was his ride back home, and Blake couldn't say anything because she didn't bring her wallet with her. The cat faunus thought it was just going to be a simple talk and pick up. "You're going to need to look sharp if you want to ask Pyrrha for a dance."

"She's probably been asked by some super cool guy." He waved off, getting a smirk from the blonde girl. "And if she hasn't been asked, I'll wear a dress to the dance."

"I'll hold you to it." She said, knowing the champion didn't get asked by any guy. "She was so worried about you she took out her stress on her four on one battle. It was a curb-stomp how badly she beat team CRDL down. No guy wanted to ask her seeing how stressed she was. So you owe her a dance, ladykiller."

Jaune sighed as he was won over by guilt. "Where do we go?"

How they got the suit for him was another story.

 **The next day**

 **School Dance**

"I thought you guys went to get Jaune?" Ruby asked her sister as they greeted people at the entrance.

Blake was currently chatting with Sun and Neptune. Sun had asked Blake out to the dance, but Blake had denied him on the first attempt. Other than worrying on Jaune running away, the cat faunus was also obsessing over Torchwick and his plans with the White Fang. Yang had a talk with her and Blake decided to accept Sun's invitation – although she extremely stressed out it would be as friends and nothing more.

"We got him back." Yang told her sister after waving a couple in. "Last I saw, he went to go take a shower. The guy was in real bad need of a shower. I'm lucky my bike had a helmet or else I would've been smelling him the whole ride back."

"Let's hope he get's here soon." The little leader muttered, shuffling in her lady stilts.

"Aww, don't worry Rubaby." Yang teased. "Your prince will be coming in soon."

"I do _not_ have a crush Jaune!" She waved her arms since stomping would make her trip. Her older sister still hadn't given up on the idea she liked Jaune that way.

"I wasn't saying it was Jaune, but if he's your princely type." The blonde caught her in a trap. Sometimes Ruby wonders if she just played dumb so others would underestimate her.

After greeting another group of students in, Ruby felt a tap on her shoulder as she turned around to look for her friends. Turning around, she was met with a guy in a black suit and red tie wearing a black fedora hat to match his clothes. She nearly jumped at him to try and kick him down since the guy reminded her of one of the goons Torchwick hired to rob a dust shop on the night she met Ozpin and Glynda. Just as she was about to use her semblance on him, Yang beat her to him and greeted the guy with a smile and a pat on the arm.

"Looking good ladykiller." The blonde said, clicking her tongue at the goon. "You look good in red."

"I still think the hat's too much." Ruby knew that voice anywhere. Shakily walking to him, she peeked under the hat to see blue eyes and tufts of blonde hair peeking out. "Sorry for worrying you Ruby."

"Jaune?" She gasped, seeing him dressed up and here. Shaking off her surprise, she tried to keep things cool. "Hey! You made it. And you're well dressed."

"I had a little help." He laughed, taking his hat off to scratch his head. "Nice décor by the way."

"Eh, this is nothing." Yang waved a hand, thumbing to the whole place. "I wanted to do more smoke machines, but Weiss went against it."

"And it still looks great." He nodded, looking the whole place over. He saw Ren and Nora on their own. There was Blake and Sun chatting with Neptune. Weiss was off trying to put a décor in place – she was looking sad for some reason. He even spotted Velvet snapping shots of some of the Atlesian soldiers' weapons. He guessed some things didn't change much. But there was one person he didn't see. "Any sign of Pyrrha?"

"We might have missed her." The busty blonde told him, looking around too. "With so many people, it's hard to keep track of everyone. I didn't even know Ren and Nora walked in until Nora shouted out their entrance."

Jaune hoped he could find his partner soon. He wanted to say hi to everyone, but finding and talking to Pyrrha was the first thing he needed to do. Walking into the dance floor, he scanned the whole floor for her in hopes of catching a glimpse of red to follow. He saw a bit of red, but it was to someone else's dress or a ribbon. Spotting Ruby at the punch bowl, he thought of going over to keep her company for a bit.

"Staying by the punch bowl?" He asked her, getting a yup in return. Taking a cup, he raised it in her direction to have a mock toast with her. "To the socially awkward."

It got a giggle out of her, so that was one accomplishment for the night. Raising her own cup, the two bumped cups and took a sip of their drink. Turning to her partner who was walking around trying to fix more of the décor, Ruby sighed knowing what was wrong. "Poor Weiss."

"What happened?" The blonde asked, looking over to the heiress who was trying to balance a white flower in a vase.

"She asked someone to the dance and he rejected her." She told him in a whisper, not wanting to be overheard.

Jaune didn't need her to say who it was because it was obvious by now who Weiss wanted to go with. Looking to the blue haired teen joking around with Blake and Sun with a smile while Weiss was miserable stirred him the wrong way. He was happy being just friends with Weiss and accepted that there'd be nothing more between them; but to see someone get something others would be so lucky to receive and just brush it away as if he had something better, it ticked him off. From the report Ren gave him during their secret mission, his opinion of the guy dropped a bit finding out he was a flirt.

"Hold my punch." The blonde said coldly, handing his cup to Ruby. He'd walk over to the guy and give him a piece of his mind.

Just as he was a few more steps from lashing out at the guy, Jaune spotted something red walking up the stairs. Turning to the stairs, he saw his partner walking out with head down. Looking to the blue haired teen and then to the retreating back of his partner, he knew what took more priority.

 **With Pyrrha**

Pyrrha sighed as she stood alone outside on the balcony. Tonight was supposed to be smiles and making good memories, but she didn't have it in her to do so. No one asked her out and her partner had ran off and didn't answer her calls. She thinks he might still be in Vale trying to hide away from her – all because she let her hormones take control. Everyone said to give him space, but it hurt her thinking she was the reason he ran away.

"Pyrrha?" She heard her name in a voice she had hoped to hear for days now. Turning around, she saw her partner standing in a nice suit. "I'm back."

SMACK!

The champion didn't know why she did it, but her hand had just moved to slap her partner's face. He now had a red handprint on his face that looked like the perfect size of her hand and his hat had fallen off.

"I deserved that." He winced, rubbing the spot to get rid of the mark.

"I'm sorry." She said instinctively, before she shook her head realizing what she was doing. "I mean- I'm not sorry. You ran away and had me worried sick."

"I know." He groaned, trying to calm her down. "And _I'm_ sorry. I should have answered your calls after I ran."

"You shouldn't have even ran." She got in his face, tears welling up in her eyes. When he took out a red handkerchief from his front pocket to dab at her eyes, she leaned into it and sobbed. "Why did you even run?"

Seeing her cry was like a kick in the teeth to the blonde. He must have put her through hell with the way he left her. After dabbing her tears away, he swallowed the knot in his throat. It was time they talked.

"Remember what I told you when you first forgave me on the roofs?" He asked, tilting her head up by her chin so she could look at him. "I told you I'd make a lot of mistakes. Running from you and making you cry was one of them."

"That still doesn't answer why you ran?" She said, stepping back to get some space. "Was it me? Was there a problem with me? The way you were looking at me before you left… it hurt."

"No!" He nearly shouted, walking towards her while waving his hands. "It wasn't you. Pyrrha, you're amazing! I could never look at you badly."

"But the way you-" He cut her off so he could explain.

"It was never you Pyrrha." He said with resolve. "It was me. The problem was with me. I didn't mean to hurt you but you got hurt anyways. I-I wanted to kiss you, but I stopped myself from forcing myself on you."

There was silence between the two as Pyrrha processed what he had said. She felt a flurry of emotions welling up inside her as she replayed what he said over and over in her mind. He wanted to kiss her. He really wanted to kiss her. She could her heart racing faster as she kept thinking what he had said. Placing a hand over her heart to calm it down, she took a silent breath to respond to him.

"I wanted it too." She replied, getting him to look at her with wide eyes. "W-when we were stuck like that, I wanted to kiss you too."

"Why?" He asked like it was some sort of mystery. Seeing as how subtlety wouldn't be getting to him, Pyrrha guessed she'd have to be blunt and straightforward.

"Because Jaune, I like you." She said clearly with no hesitation. "I like you a lot."

"O-oh." The way he had said it didn't stir her right. She was prepared for rejection, but she had hoped it wouldn't hurt this much.

"Y-you don't have to return my feelings." She said, trying to keep her voice level. "I understand that you don't feel the same way."

"Pyrrha, it's not that. You just caught me of guard." Her leader said, stepping closer to hold her hands. "Right now I'm happy you feel that way about me. I'm happy I can feel something for you too."

"But there's something else, isn't there?" The redhead said, knowing there was a 'but' in there.

"Yeah." He nodded, not letting go of her hands. "Right now I know how I feel about you and the others, but I don't know how I feel about myself. I still have some troubles I'm trying to work through, and I don't think I'll be ready for a relationship while I'm like this."

"Is there any way I can help?" She asked, tightening her grip on his hands. "We can get through it together."

"Not this one Pyr." He said, running his hands up to grab her arms. "I need to do this on my own - and it's not some macho thing or my pride getting in the way. I need to do this on my own because only I can fix this. I have to do this if I ever want to keep looking myself in the mirror everyday."

"Besides." He continued, giving her a genuine smile. "You and the others are already helping me. You keep me grounded and pull me out of the dark every time I get caught. I meant what I said back in the gym of how you mean a lot to me Pyr. Don't doubt that for a even a second."

"I won't." She whispered, burying her head into his chest as she hugged him. "Just know that you mean a lot to me too."

Letting go, she smiled as she saw the handprint on his face had gone away. Turning to where his hat had dropped, she picked it up and handed it over to him. As he took it out of her hands, she giggled when instead of putting it on him, he placed it on her head.

"I'm not much when it comes to style, but I think it matches you nicely." He said, looking her over. "I still wanna know though. Why me?"

"I've asked myself that question a lot since I found out I liked you." She said, sitting on the ledge and tapping a spot for him to sit on. "I guess it all started when you saw me for me. You're not like most people who see money, or fame, or extra ears or a tail. You just see a person and treat them like anyone else. And because of you, I was able to make friendships that would last me a lifetime."

"So, where does that leave us?" He asked, feeling like he got part of an answer to who he was. "I'm still new to relationships so this is a first for me."

"It might surprise you, but this is a first for me too." The champion admitted, feeling a blush on her cheeks. "I've never been in a relationship before, but from what I know – we're both attracted to one another, but you feel you're not ready to be in a relationship."

"Yeah." He nodded, knowing the summary of it.

"And I'm willing to wait for you." She continued, giving him a bold smile. "Now that I know you have feelings for me, I just have to stick by you when you're ready finally ready to be in a relationship."

"You make it sound like I've got a harem of girls waiting to jump me." The blonde said, laughing at the thought. "Jaune Arc, the harem king. Yeah right."

"You underestimate how cute you are." Pyrrha poked his nose while tipping the hat on her head. "I think I'll keep the hat for tonight."

Feeling a lot better now, she thought she'd head in to be with friends. On her way in, she saw Neptune passing by to the balcony. She had no idea of the talk her partner would be having with the blue haired teen. Getting inside and waving to Yang and the others, Pyrrha spotted Ruby standing by the punch bowl while holding two cups of punch.

"Evening Ruby." She greeted the shorter redhead. "Why aren't you out dancing?"

"I'm not much of a dancer." Ruby replied, sipping from the cup in her left hand. "Well maybe I am, but I can't do it in heels."

"Would you like some company?" Pyrrha asked, not feeling like dancing herself. "It would be boring to just stand here all night."

"Sure!" The little leader said, wanting the company. Before they could chat, Ruby remembered something Yang asked her to do if she saw the champion. "Quick question first. Did anyone ask you out to the dance?"

Now that Pyrrha thought things through, Jaune didn't ask her out to dance. He just appeared and they confessed that they had feelings for one another. So technically, no one asked her out. "No."

"Right." Ruby nodded, looking up to her sister and waving her hands in an X formation. "Now that that's done, what do you wanna talk about?"

"Uh, is there something I should know?" Pyrrha asked with a raised brow.

"I don't know." The reaper shrugged, putting the punch down. "Yang just told me to do that if you said no. …And now she's run off somewhere."

Following Ruby's gaze, Pyrrha saw that Yang was now running off into the dance floor with a manic grin on her face. She then grabbed Blake and pulled her head to whisper something into her ear. It was strange how they both nodded together and rushed out to who knows where.

"Hm?" Ruby hummed, spotting something outside the window. Hearing her Pyrrha asked what was wrong. "I thought I saw someone on the roofs outside."

Sharing a look, the two redheads left the dance to go investigate. Neither knew that they'd be heading into trouble.

 **END**

 **AN: Oh man! This was challenging to right. I had so many different scenarios for this that it was taking so long to figure out what to choose. So Jaune and Pyrrha's relationship status is 'it's complicated.' Pyrrha acting more bold now is just emotions getting the better of her. The past few chapters have shown that she is human and is now comfortable enough to joke and berate Jaune. We even have an intervention and a look into Jaune's low self esteem issue. I'd be lying if I said it hit too close to home.**

 **So now we know a bit of why Roman has an interest in Jaune with a bit of Neo having her own plans with him. Shippers, No! I know what you're thinking with Roman now having Jaune's scroll number. (I better not get any reviews on Jaune being a booty call for either of the two criminals.)**

 **And…**

 **OMAKE!**

 **Suit Up**

"I thought I told you never to come here." Hei Xiong, also known as Junior said as he leaned over his counter.

"Relax Junior." Yang waved a hand while keeping Jaune close by. "I just need one of your boy's suits for my friend here."

"What do I look like a tailor?" The owner asked, crossing his arms.

"So what if I just beat one of your guys and take his clothes instead?" The blonde asked, eyeing the now nervous men. "I'll even let you take the pick of which one you don't like the most."

"I don't like you the most, but you won't be punching yourself in the face." The bearded man quipped, getting a chuckle from the blonde's partner. "What's the kid need a suit for anyway?"

"A dance." Yang said simply. "So please give him a suit? I'm sure you guys have it in bulk."

"If I give you the suit, will you finally stop coming here?" The man asked, getting tired of the blonde being in his club.

"I swear this time not to come here." She promised. And she really meant it this time. The place was cool, but the guy's information wasn't that good and she found a better club to frequent – nicer service too.

"Melanie. Militia. Bring them to the back." The twins sitting on a stool eyeing the three sighed as they motioned for them to follow.

 **Back Room**

Blake and Yang were sitting on some chairs as they waited for Jaune's suit. The twins were going through some of their inventory as they scrounged for the goon uniforms. Melanie was the one to find the clothes.

"Here's your suit." Melanie said, shoving the folded clothing in Jaune's chest. "Try it on and tell us if it fits."

"Alright." After walking into a small fitting room and the sounds of clothes rustling could be heard, Jaune called out to them from behind the curtain. "Guys? I think the pants are too tight."

"Those pants are meant to be for the suit's size." Militia told him with hands on her hips. "Besides, suits are supposed to be a little snug on the body and hug the form. You men just like wearing loose clothes too much."

"But it's really tight on the crotch." He said, getting an eye roll from the two. Like they never heard that before – and he looked like such a good boy too.

"Just get out here." Melanie ordered him, not wanting any of his crap.

None notice Yang's face turning beet red while pulling her scroll out. Blake saw this though, but she thought it was more of a joke than a serious thing.

 **Minutes later**

All four girls were blushing after the twins gave the blonde knight a bigger set of pants. It was a little baggy on the legs, but it hugged the hips just nice. Like what happened with Pyrrha, Yang added three more people to their happy secret.

"He's single, right?" Militiades asked the two partners with a blush on her face. "Because with a bath and some nicer clothes, he'd be a real catch."

"Sorry, my little sister already has dibs." Yang lied, not wanting her sister to fall to any of the twins.

"Too bad." Melanie sighed. "Looks like I'm sinning tonight."

As the twins talked with the busty blonde, neither noticed how crossed Blake's legs were. It wasn't like how Ninjas of Love described it, but damn was it imagination fuel. And Yang even stole a shot of him too.

' _Now that's a katana.'_ She thought, coughing to fight down her blush.

 **END**

 **AN: I have no words to say. Look forward to the next chapter as Ruby and Pyrrha face Cinder. Plus, looks like Jaune will have to keep his word.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Hey all you readers. Aloehisja here again with a chapter. Read some of the reviews and I cant help but ask what is it with you all jumping to conclusions this is a harem fic? I said it isn't going to be one and I meant it along with the pairings being unconfirmed. And can someone tell me when the Arkos hating came about because I don't know when it started.**

 **With that small tidbit out of the way, on with the story.**

 **Chapter 11:** Wild Night

Ruby and Pyrrha were looking to the roofs as they tried to keep a look out for the person they saw hopping on them. From the direction she was headed, it was to a building with tight security around it. They would have gotten there faster, but with the heels Ruby was trying to run in, it was a challenge. The champion was slowing down to keep pace with her.

"Pyrrha." Ruby gasped, pointing to the building with a guard knocked out on the ground.

"Let's call our weapons." The taller redhead nodded, taking her scroll out and dialing in her locker. In a matter of seconds, her locker landed in front of her with her weapon inside. Turning to Ruby, her locker had landed by her too and had her weapon out in scythe mode.

Whoever was inside, they'd make sure to catch the trespasser and find out what was their goal.

 **With Jaune**

Jaune didn't know how he ended up in this situation. One moment he was standing on the balcony after lecturing Neptune on his actions of hurting Weiss, and then Yang and Blake appeared when he was walking in to meet up for a dance with his partner. The grin on Yang's face was making him extremely uneasy since it usually meant she had something planned – and not in a good way.

"So Jauney boy." The busty blonde said, putting an arm over him. "Word came around that no one asked Pyrrha out to the dance. Know what that means?"

"That most of the male populace sucks?" He said, getting a smirk from Blake.

"…Okay, that. But there's one more thing." Yang nodded while pulling him to walk with her. "I seem to recall you saying you'd wear a dress if she wasn't asked."

Realization dawned on him that he did say that the other day. Turning to Blake for an out, the knight saw she was smirking too while looking him over. He knew that look so well. It was the same looks in his sisters' eyes every time they'd drag him into something he didn't like. This was pigtails in camping trips all over again! He needed to find an out.

"I don't have a dress." The blonde male tried to make an excuse.

"I got it covered." Yang smirked, getting one from a certain pair of twins the other night while Jaune got his suit. "I even made sure to get something that matches your eyes."

"I'll be publically ridiculed for the rest of my time here!" He tried to go for guilt and reasoning.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll wear a tux so you don't stand out too much." The busty blonde compromised while patting his shoulder. "I'll even say you're my date for the dance."

Jaune could only groan as he saw he wouldn't be getting out of it. He just hoped it would blow over once the dance was done and they'd be on missions. With head bowed down, he followed them as the two brought him to their dorm. As Yang walked inside to look for the dress, it was now just Blake and Jaune waiting outside with the cat faunus staying behind so the blonde knight couldn't run away and hide.

"Be honest." He said, looking at her with despair in his eyes. "How bad of a dress are we talking here?"

"It's not that bad." She shrugged, seeing the dress Yang had 'borrowed' for this occasion. "I wouldn't wear it, but it's a nice one."

That spoke volume for how bad it would look on Jaune. Worse comes to worse it was one of those skimpy dresses that had a thigh cut most celebrities loved wearing nowadays. Or it could be a very frilly dress that you'd see in one of those old paintings – either way, he was still going to be put in a dress.

"Here it is." Yang emerged from her dorm, holding out a pure white dress with sequins. It even came with gloves and high heels in his size. Jaune didn't even want to know what kind of woman had feet his size.

"I'll wear the dress but I am _not_ going to be walking in high heels." He crossed his arms and taking a step back.

"You're sounding just like Ruby." Yang thrust the close into his chest. "Just try them on and see how it goes. Who knows? Maybe you'll like it a lot."

"The bet was a dress, not the heels or the whole set." The blonde said, trying to give the heels and gloves back. "I'm not even sure this dress would fit me."

"Oh, it'll fit." The busty blonde smirked, taking the dress to show how it stretched. "It's like a one size fits all kind of thing. Hugs the curves just right. Tell you what. Just show me what you look like in the whole thing, and when we go to the dance floor you can wear regular shoes. Deal?"

The knight took it knowing he wouldn't get anything other than that. Walking into his dorm, he locked it in case any of his team came early to get something. While undressing, his scroll vibrated with a message. Looking on who the sender was, he saw it was from _Mascara._

 _News got around there's a dance in your school. I'd be careful out on the dance floor cowboy. I hear dancing with something green can get you killed. A certain Book lover with claws did and he's nowhere Under The Sun. Delete this message after reading._

Jaune paused as he looked over the message once more. It was a known fact Beacon had a dance tonight, but what bothered him was what the second to last sentence said. The only book lover he knew was Blake and last he knew, she was a girl despite her name and was still alive.

He looked over the message once more, trying to find some sort of hidden message. One thing he noticed was that 'book,' and 'under the sun' were the only things with a capital letter.

"Book. Under the sun." He mumbled, feeling it was familiar. Raking his mind, he remembered something close to the clues.

 _Tukson's Book Store, any book under the sun._

" _Welcome to Tukson's Bookstore. I'm Tukson."_

 _He was a faunus too._

 _On the floor of the store were strands of green hair._

" _He was a White Fang Member."_

Tukson! He was a faunus and he had claws. So Roman was telling him whoever killed Tukson was in the school now. Forgetting about the dress, he unlocked his door to see Blake and Yang were still waiting for him. Grabbing them, he pulled them into his dorm room and locked the door behind him.

"What's the deal?" Yang asked, not liking being manhandled. She'll admit, it was surprising to see a shirtless Jaune pulling her and her partner into his room, but this wasn't some prom where he'd automatically be getting sex.

"Look at this." He showed the message to them. Now wasn't time for mincing words. If there was a killer on the dance floor, then they'd need to tread this carefully.

Blake was the only one to get what the message was saying. Taking the scroll out of his hand, she turned to her partner with a serious gaze to show this was something important. Turning back to Jaune, she had one question to ask. "Where did you get this?"

"Something happened yesterday before you guys picked me up from Vale." He started, motioning for them to sit down while he took a chair to sit in front of them. The story would be short, but he knew the questions would be piling up.

 **Back to Ruby and Pyrrha**

 **Room of Computers**

"Are they still alive?" Ruby asked the champion as she checked a guard for a pulse.

"It's faint, but there's something." She replied, getting back from the ground and unsheathing her weapon. "I'll be in front to block anything that comes at us. You watch the back in case of a flank."

Nodding, the two redheads stayed close to each other while scoping their surroundings. Ruby was surprised how well she got along with Pyrrha. She was professional and kind at the same time while giving off this motherly air around her. Even when they both volunteered to be snipers in Vale, the taller redhead showed constant concern for her and had even humored her on some stories she told of her life in Patch. No wonder Weiss wanted her as a partner in the first place – she was awesomesauce.

"Look." Pyrrha whispered, pointing to the only computer screen that was on. "That's something to be suspicious of."

"I don't see the intruder." Ruby whispered back, taking a glance to the screen and seeing for anything out of place. "This doesn't seem to be making any sense."

"We should head back and report this to Headmaster Ozpin." The champion suggested, getting a nod in return.

As they turned around to leave, they froze for a second to see the intruder standing in front of an elevator. It was a black haired woman with a nice figure wearing all black and a mask to hide her face. The intruder flinched too for being caught but smirked as her escape had opened. Turning around she made to dash in but was met with two guards laughing to one another before seeing the woman in front of them. They were too slow to react as the intruder had dashed towards them and ran her two swords through their chests.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha shouted for her friend to get behind her, turning her weapon into spear mode and throwing it to the killer. It missed as the woman jumped out of the way and dashed to find another escape.

"Oh my gosh, she killed them." Ruby gasped, seeing someone's death up close for the first time. It wasn't like the movies or the games Yang would play. This was real life. Snapping out of it, she turned her scythe to the woman and started firing to try and catch her.

Using her semblance, Pyrrha had gotten her spear back and had charged to the intruder and bring her to justice. With Ruby constantly firing, she gaining on her and was close to grabbing her. Just as she outstretched her hand, the woman had turned back to slice at the outstretched arm. It hit the open palm of the champion's hand as she wasn't ready for it. Flinching from the pain, she pulled her hand back to see it was now bleeding.

"Pyrrha!" The little leader shouted, taking better aim and stopping the woman from running further. Charging forward with her speed, she was now in front of the woman with Pyrrha on the other side. "Give it up and come with us quietly."

There was an interruption as Ironwood had entered with a team close behind. With the door opened, the woman in black took her chance and conjured fire around her to get the two huntresses in training to flinch and back away. Flipping over Ironwood and his men, the intruder bolted out of the room and into the night. She had succeeded in doing what she went in to do and now she just had to hide. Ironwood's men had given chase while the general had stayed behind to survey the area and check on the two brave girls.

 **At the dance**

After Jaune had shared his interaction with Roman, the two girls were skeptical to believe that the criminal's reasons were wholesome. That didn't stop them though. No matter the guy's goal, his tip was too precise that it couldn't be ignored. They'd walk around and blend in to find anyone that matched the description, and then they'd regroup the next day to share what they found.

"There you guys are." Sun smiled especially to Blake, seeing the three coming back into the dance. Neptune and Weiss were on the side with the heiress trying to instruct the blue haired boy. "I was wondering where you all went."

"Some stuff came up that needed to be taken care of." Yang made the excuse, being the better liar of the three. Blake just wasn't casual enough to make it work in this case. "So what's with Ice Queen there and the blue wonder?"

"She's teaching him how to dance." He shrugged, thumbing to Neptune almost stepping on Weiss' toes. "Not doing so good."

"Maybe you're the type that learns by observation." Weiss groaned, getting a chair to rub her aching foot.

Her 'date' had stepped on the same foot five times and still couldn't get it. Turning to Jaune, she remembered Blake sharing some talk they had days ago of the Arc knowing how to dance – she'll se for herself. Walking over to him, she had her hands on her hips as she motioned for Neptune to stand next to her.

"You." She pointed the blonde knight out. "I've heard you know how to dance, correct?"

"Yes." He said curtly so as not to anger her.

"Just this once, I will have a dance with you." The heiress said, getting raised brows from a lot of them. Turning to Neptune, she gave him a small smile. "Watch how he moves and see if you can imitate him."

Ren and Nora had spotted them and were watching as Jaune and Weiss did a slow dance near their friends with Neptune nodding and shuffling his feet now and then to try and get an idea. They spotted their leader walking out before and were about to follow, but stopped when they saw he was going after Pyrrha. After his short dance with Weiss was over, they had walked over to greet their runaway leader.

"Jaune." Nora called to him, jumping on her leader's back I good humor. "You forgave me for the nuggets, right?"

"I will." He played along with her. "If you give me pancake in compensation."

The two giggled as they shared a laugh. There was no way she'd ever give up her pancakes for a nugget. After getting Nora off their leader, Ren smiled as things had gone back to the usual. Although, he had one thing he was disappointed on.

"I had dance choreography planned, but you went missing." The ninja told his leader, sharing his disappointment. "It was something that could have fit with almost any song."

Jaune gave him a sheepish grin as he felt bad for running off more. Ren was a great choreographer and was good at giving instructions. His attitude to perfection was something he wasn't fond of, but he gave good results when he wanted. "There's always next year, right?"

"But for now he's going to dance with me." Yang cut in, grabbing Jaune's arm to lead him to the center of the dance floor.

' _My time will come soon.'_ The martial artist of JNPR sighed as he imagined his team taking the spotlight with an awesome dance he choreographed. It would come, just like his special health drink.

As Yang led Jaune to the center of the floor, she placed her arms on him while taking a glance around her every now and then to see any signs of green hair. This was a perfect cover for them to try and scan the room for the killer – whoever it was.

"See anyone?" Yang whispered to Jaune as she spotted Blake dancing with Sun while looking around as well.

The three had kept what they knew a secret from the others for now to keep the suspicion small. Jaune wouldn't have to wear the dress tonight since they needed to blend in as much as possible without having eyes on them. Currently, they were looking for anyone with green hair that matched the color Blake found in the bookstore.

"I see a lot of girls with green hair, but I doubt any of them seemed the type to kill so easily." The blonde male whispered, twirling Yang around to have her see who he meant.

"I know some of those girls." The busty blonde mused, knowing a whole bunch of people. "You're right to not jump the gun on them. They're not that skilled to do any killing."

"It has to be someone not from here then." He deduced, stepping in line with her as they eyed the crowd. "If I remembered the date correctly, more of the transfer students had arrived on that day."

"That narrows it down to anyone in the transferee dorms." Yang smirked, enjoying her dance with the other blonde. "Now that we have that solved, let's get to know one another more. I got to know you a bit more the other night, but I think that's not everything."

"Only if you share something about you." The blonde male said back, getting a nod in return.

"That's fair." She agreed, thinking of something to share. "Since I know something of you I should go first. Let's see… I know how to cook. Bet you didn't know that."

"No, I didn't until now." He said, imagining her being the type to be in the kitchen. When someone thought of Yang, they'd think of a woman that broke stereotypes.

"When you have a little sister that eats sugar like a machine you need to bring in the healthy stuff." Yang smiled, remembering the days she'd force-feed her sister veggies. "After a while, it became an art for me, just like punching."

"Okay, so my turn." Jaune nodded, feeling he should share something now. "Oh! Before coming to Beacon, I was mostly on this all veggie and fruit diet."

"So that explains how scrawny you were." She mused, seeing the connection. "What was up with that?"

"You know how sisters are." He shrugged, getting a raised brow to explain. "If one goes on a diet, then _everyone_ has to go on a diet. It's to show that we support her."

She giggled as he said the last sentence in his best feminine voice – which wasn't much. She hasn't done anything like that with Ruby, but she could imagine doing it if one of the two were on a diet. "How many sisters do you have?"

"Seven." That got her gaping in surprise. "So you can imagine how long dieting went."

"Dang, you're dad needs to learn how to pull out." She teased, getting a small choke out of him. It was a joke he wasn't prepared for – but he knew how to roll with it.

"Arc's never pull out of any battlefield." He shot back, using an innuendo to get her smirking in return.

"But didn't you agree to run away during the initiation?" She shot back with a smirk.

"I've recently learned I'm more than my family's name." Yang smiled as he said that. She could still see a lost man inside his eyes, but he was getting there. It was slowly but surely.

Just as she was about to say something once more, she saw green over his shoulder. Turning to the source, she saw a green haired girl dancing with a gray haired boy. Ruby had shared she ran into two people days ago fitting their description. Her little sister said they weren't from Beacon and that they were very nice even after she had nearly bumped into them. She'd play it off as nothing but coincidence, but with how things had happened so far – she'd take the neutral route and keep an eye on them.

Pinching Jaune and spinning him so he could see the two people dancing, the way she motioned her eyes to them told him she was suspecting them. Nodding, the two danced their way to Blake and Sun where in a humorous way, it ended up being Blake and Yang in a dance with the two blonde boys sharing an awkward slow dance for the school to see. While the two boys tried to figure out who was leading, Yang shared what she and Jaune thought of Ruby's new 'friends.'

By the time Blake found them, it was to see a new woman stepping in and dancing with the male. Her senses were flaring as she concentrated on her. The green haired girl was one she'd be suspicious of, but the black haired woman that had walked in was another thing entirely. No one could notice with all the smells of perfume and cologne added with the emotions of enjoyment, but Blake had a whiff of something that came into the air once the woman appeared – blood. Whatever suspicion the three had on the group was now strong.

 **The next day**

Pyrrha and Ruby had to go see Ozpin about the events of what had happened last night. The champion's leader and Ruby's two teammates had a feeling it involved what the two shared with them last night after they returned to the dorms to see Pyrrha consoling a nearly hollow Ruby. The happy events of the dance were gone as the two redheads shared what had happened. After getting a description of the intruder, Blake's suspicion of the woman last night was blaring.

The little reaper was beating herself up for not being fast enough to save the men who died. All the failures and accidents they had gone through had caught up to her mind as she put all the blame on herself – including the injured and dead in the expressway battle with Torchwick. After getting consolation from her friends to get back up, there was a fire in her eyes as she left them with Pyrrha close behind to meet with the headmaster.

As her little sister had left, Yang mentally beat herself up for letting something like that happen to her. Ruby Rose came to Beacon to become a protector of life and a hero to those in need. Yang wanted reality to sink into her head gently and with the support of her friends behind her, but it didn't happen. She looked like she lost some part of her innocence and was replaced with the harsh cynical truths of life. As her older sister, it would be her job to pull her out before she got in too deep without seeing the light of things. As Weiss entered with their mail, Yang perked up a bit to hear she had something from home.

"Should we tell her?" Blake whispered as she sat next to her partner.

"Not now Blake." The blonde shook her head, pulling the cat faunus in for a one armed hug. "Not with what's going on now. Ruby's a mess and we're deep in it too. Let's give Weiss her chance to be happy for a bit."

After the dance, Weiss was happy she got her something of a dance with Neptune. The guy still had two left feet, but he wasn't stepping on anyone's toes but his. The heiress found it endearing how he wasn't as cool or perfect as he made himself out to be.

"Will you be alright?" The cat ninja of the team asked, not used to seeing her partner looking so down. She received a small laugh in return.

"C'mon Blake, it's me we're talking about." Yang puffed her chest out with a huge grin on her face. "I can bounce back from this no problem. Its just Ruby I have to look after."

Squeezing her hands, Blake eyed her and saw the normally cocky smile she had on was shaking a bit. Placing a hand on her partner's shoulder, she squeezed it to feel she was quivering a bit too. Yang was always strong, but she wasn't invincible – none of them were. "Just remember you have me to help you too, okay?"

"Thanks." The blonde said in a small tone as if she was holding back some pain. Relaxing a bit, she sighed as they continued to wait for Ruby. "This wasn't really what I had in mind when I enrolled you know?"

"Me neither." Blake agreed, sharing her thoughts. "When I first saw you and Ruby, I thought you two were far from the group I'd be teamed up with."

"Funny how things work out." Yang sighed, wrapping her partner in a one armed hug. "But I wouldn't change any of it. This is like the biggest thrill I'm getting so far."

"Same." Her partner mumbled from her place in a fleshy mound. Wiggling her head out, she massaged her neck from the hug. "You guys are loud and can annoy me, but I wouldn't trade you for anyone else."

"Eh, cool friends do that." The two giggled as they shared a laugh. Putting the package on the drawer, Yang felt a bit better than before. With things good on their end, she wondered how her fellow blonde was doing across the hall.

 **In JNPR room**

"Why?" Ren massaged his temples as he finished processing what Jaune told him and Nora. "What ever happened to things being normal?"

"Ren, I know this is a lot-" Jaune started but was caught off by a hand in his face.

"No, no." The ninja groaned, feeling he needed a health drink for this. Finding his center, he looked to his leader to see Nora was sitting next to him with her usual smile. Of course she'd be on the side of adventure and spy stuff. "Jaune, this is crazy."

"I know Ren." The blonde heaved, not liking it any more than he did. "I was debating on whether to keep you guys in the dark while I skulked this out with Yang and Blake, but I couldn't do it to you guys - not again. You are like the brother I never had and Nora's like this sister I cant stop smiling around. That's why I'm telling you this now so you both know what's happening. I don't want you guys thinking I'm mad at you or something when I'm not here."

"Aww." Nora cooed with a funny feeling in her chest. It was sweet that Jaune thought of them that way, but there was also that lingering feeling of fear for his safety. Seeing Ren get up, there was a blank look on his face as he walked up to their leader. "Ren?"

Flick!

"Ow!" Jaune shouted as Ren flicked him hard on the forehead. "What was that for?"

"It sounded like you were going to go off on your own and leave us behind. Were you?" He asked, narrowing his eyes on him and getting Nora to join him. When his leader nodded weakly, he gave another quick and hard flick to his head. "I haven't said anything on it, but we're getting tired of you doing that without us. I was all for giving you space to find yourself, but this is something else entirely. We're joining you on this, okay?"

"Yes." Jaune nodded, still rubbing his forehead. Ren would usually scold Nora, so it was weird being on the end of it.

"So we just look out for the green haired girl and her team, right?" Nora asked, setting Ren back down after his short fuse.

"Pretty much." The blonde nodded, sitting across from them. "There's also the gray haired guy and the black haired girl on their team."

" _Gray_ haired?" Ren was now at full attention with signals blaring as he described someone like that.

Getting a raised brow from Jaune, Ren remembered Jaune wasn't around on the day Pyrrha fought CRDL and the other boy he remembered as Mercury Black. This was not good as Ren connected dots. Of course things weren't a coincidence anymore. They interfered in something big and they were targeted along with team RWBY. After sharing with Jaune of the possible same guy that asked for a fight with Pyrrha, his leader was standing and pacing as he came to the same thought.

"We've become targets." The blonde knight said, raking a hand through his hair. "It's no coincidence the guy wanted to fight Pyrrha. He was analyzing her for any weakness. They probably know more about us than we do of them."

Ren cursed mentally as he felt the target on their backs. They got careless thinking it was over and now they paid the price. Feeling a hand on his, he looked up to see Nora giving him a comforting smile.

"Looks like we're not getting out of this one." The magenta-eyed boy sighed, squeezing her hand too. "So what now?"

"We train." Jaune said, walking to the door. "We don't know a lot about these guys, so we need to go beyond what they saw of us."

"Where are you going?" Nora asked as their leader was going out.

"I need to run some things by Blake and Yang." He told the two. "When Pyrrha gets back, tell her to be on alert too. We're all going to be going beyond our limits before the tournament."

"Yes sir!" The bubbly ginger saluted with Ren smirking as well. It looked like his time away from them changed something in him for the better. And Nora thought it was changing them in good way too with how Ren had acted so assertive.

Closing the door to his dorm, Jaune walked to team RWBY's room to hear something going on inside. Just as he was going to knock, Blake had sprung out and jumped on his shoulders to use him as some sort of post. She was surprisingly light with how she was able to balance on him and control his balance for him so he wouldn't fall over.

"Blake, get off!" The blonde nearly screamed as he kept trying to find a wall to hold on to. He was planning on entering their dorm, but he wasn't expecting to be pulled in like this.

After getting close to one of the beds, the cat faunus had jumped off him and got on the higher bunk while huffing loudly like she saw something scary. It sort of reminded him of one of his sisters whenever a spider was around. It made him remember that Blake was still a girl despite how cool and tough she acted around them. Feeling something on his leg, he looked down to see an adorable corgi looking back up at him with a curious gaze.

"Hello." He greeted the little …guy after he picked it up to see its gender. Turning to the others in the room, the male saw Yang smiling next to a bunch of cans, Weiss eyeing the little guy in his hands, and that Ruby had returned. "Hey Ruby. You're back from Ozpin's office. How'd it go?"

"It was okay." She shrugged, not feeling any pep in her system even after sharing what had happened. Not even the surprise visit of her dog could bring her smile up. "Pyrrha's on her way. She just had to go to the cafeteria for something."

This was concerning for him along with Yang. When one thought of Ruby Rose, one would say smiles and cheers. Not this sack of sadness wallowing in self pity – that was him and Blake. Walking up to her with dog in hand, he placed the pooch in front of her face to get a good licking from the adorable thing. It got a small giggle from her, but it wasn't enough to bring out the happy girl they were all used to.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked her, getting Yang and Blake to be beside him.

Putting the dog down, Weiss picked it back up and stood next to Ruby to have her share her problems with them. Getting a shake of the head, they all inched closer for her to start spilling. With all the people crowding around her, the dam broke as Ruby sniffled before crying.

"I couldn't save them!" The silver-eyed girl sniffled, tears running down her face as she hunched over.

Yang had pushed Jaune out of the way as soon as it registered who was crying. The busty blonde shushed her sister as she tried to comfort her in a warm embrace. The other two girls had joined in on comforting their leader as they tried to tell her it wasn't her fault. Any chances of Jaune telling them of their plans had been put in the back seat for another time. For now, he had a friend who was traumatized and needed to encouragement and support. They had Ruby retell everything once more on what happened and how she felt on it. By the end of it, there was nothing Jaune could say and left it for her team to help her.

Walking out, he saw his partner was coming to their door with a basket of food in her hand. Looks like the champion was planning something for them before their mission selections today.

"Hey Pyr." He greeted her, getting a smile in return. Their relationship was still the same, but things were a little complicated now. "What's with the food?"

"I was hoping we could all spend some time in the courtyard today." She said with an innocent smile on her face. "After the events of last night, I think we could all have something to take our minds off it."

He didn't know if she meant the confession or the intruder entering Beacon, but he just nodded in agreement. Right now, getting something normal would be nice for his team.

"Yeah." He nodded, opening the door for her to see Nora wearing shades with his hat from the dance last night and Ren just reading his book as usual. "What's she doing?"

"He walked in with a dame right behind him carrying goods in her hands." Nora narrated like one of those old detective movies. "The man was sharp asking me what I was up to. A real looker if how the lady behind him was smiling to him showed."

"Ren, what's she doing?" Jaune asked his male teammate, seeing as Nora was doing her own thing again.

"Sun messaged her he got a mission as a junior detective." The ninja gave a short summary. Nothing else needed to be said after that.

"Well does PI Nora want to head out with us for a picnic?" The blonde leader asked, getting the ginger to perk up with shades falling off. The way she pulled the hat off and chucked it on his bed was enough of an answer. "Let's get going then."

 _Ping. All first years please report to the auditorium for mission assignments. Thank you._

The look on Nora's face of having her picnic ruined was devastating after the announcement was made. As she peeked into the basket, she whimpered as she saw Pyrrha had even put in a few pancakes for her with the red syrup in a small container. Maybe just a small snack for the road would be enough for now.

"Let's go Nora." Ren pulled her away from the food just as she was about to reach for the pancakes. "We can all go on the picnic after we pick a mission."

' _Nooooo!'_ Nora cried as she was dragged off into the halls and away from the basket of goodies. She could feel her stomach touching her spine with each distance she was getting away from the food. She could even hear the pancakes lamenting for her touch as they were getting cold.

"Shall we?" Jaune motioned for Pyrrha to go first with a mock bow.

Giggling at his action, she walked out first after putting the food on her bed and waited for him to follow. On their way out, they caught up with team RWBY with a much happier Ruby trotting behind with an oversized bag. It might be just how she was walking, but the blonde knight could have sworn he saw the bag squirm a bit.

 **Mission boards**

"See anything good Ren?" Jaune asked his teammate as he found the silent boy eyeing a particular mission. Looking it over, it was to some place called Misenwood. The blonde didn't know why, but he felt like it was a miserable place just by the name itself.

"I'm just thinking it over." The ninja said, having a hard decision between Misenwood and some other village that needed help.

"What about that one?" His leader asked, pointing to a mission near some ruins. It was a guard mission for archeologists that were searching for some sort of artifact. "Seems like up our alley."

"Hmm." This is why Ren hated multiple choices. He was alright with anything that it frustrated him a bit on what to choose. It's also why his choice of clothing always looked the same – there was no need to waste time on what to choose.

"Oh for the- let's choose this one!" Nora stomped over and punched in their team's name on a random mission. The sooner they chose something, the sooner they could eat. And Nora hungry.

Looking over the mission, Jaune and Ren blanched as they read what their mission would be. It was a stealth mission down in Vale requested by Ozpin himself. There were recent reports of crime going down suddenly and the headmaster along with a few higher ups were suspicious of the sudden drop. Their task was to sneak around and search for anything without rousing police suspicion and tag specific areas marked for having criminal activities. And the huntress going with them would be Glynda Goodwitch.

Now, both boys were okay with this mission. It was basically what they did with team RWBY and friends. But last time the results weren't so good with the giant robot fight and the constant police patrols. And with Nora being the loud one on their team, it was like trying to contain a firework in a compact room.

"You think we can leave Nora with Miss Goodwitch?" Jaune asked the hammer girl's partner. If Nora was with the professor, she wouldn't dare do anything out of line.

"Please don't tempt me." Ren whispered, knowing _he'd_ be the one to suffer once the mission was over. From the teacher or from Nora, he didn't know – but all he knew was that he'd be getting in trouble.

"Let's just go to the courtyard so we can meet Miss Goodwitch." His leader sighed as Ren walked with him. Pyrrha was waiting for them outside and Nora was now reading their mission descriptions. And in 3, 2, 1-

"Wait. WHAT?!" Nora shouted, finally realizing what she had done. "Help! I need a do over! My finger slipped!"

"Let's just go Nora." Jaune called to her as he and Ren were reaching the outside. "We don't want to keep our instructor waiting."

The ginger was whimpering as she trudged along to catch up with her partner and leader. All she wanted was to finish picking their mission so they'd have a quick picnic, and now she ruined it. After catching up to her team where Jaune was explaining their mission to Pyrrha, she saw team RWBY standing out front.

"Looks like we're going to save the world with Dr. Oobleck, yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse." Ruby said, not finding some joy in who they got. The doctor was great and she learnt a lot from him, but she still had doubt of him as a capable fighter. Then again, she underestimated Jaune and he turned out to be something.

"Save the world?" Nora called out to them with her team next to her. "You're going on world saving mission without us? I'm hurt and sad. Betrayed. Maybe a little hungry. But it's not your fault though, Ren."

The ninja crossed his arms as he turned away from her. If she was going to hold that over him for her missed treats, then he'd hold their unexpected mission he didn't get a say so over her. Now they were both going to be miserable. Now that he thought it over, the mission to shadow a sheriff of a nearby village sounded good but now he couldn't have it.

"So where are you guys going?" Jaune asked, turning them away from the two. He's learnt that what Ren doesn't say in words, he shows it by his actions and demeanor – and this was something the two partners would have to talk about on their own.

"Just outside the kingdom. What about you guys?" Ruby asked her fellow leader.

"We're stuck in Vale." He laughed sheepishly, turning to Ren and Nora where the ninja was glaring at his partner.

"Nora chose a stealth mission to investigate the sudden drop in crime without rousing the police suspicion with Miss Goodwitch." Pyrrha summarized for them, getting Blake to perk up. "Since it's close by, we start today too."

"Looks like there's no party tonight then." Neptune joined in with Sun close by. "We're shadowing crime specialists. Inner city detective stuff. It even comes with badges."

"Cool." Jaune and Ruby said, imagining how cool it would be to have badges.

"Well we-"

"Four minutes ladies!" Oobleck shouted over Ruby, having all of them stare at the team about to head off.

As the all female team turned to their friends, they waved goodbye as they jogged to their ship. Watching them go, it was now just team JNPR with Sun and Neptune.

"So since you guys are heading out now too, can I have the picnic basket on your bed?" Sun asked out of nowhere, getting a silent growl from Nora.

"How did you-"

"Window." Sun answered before Jaune could finish asking.

Turning to Nora who was close to pulling her hair out, he sighed knowing the stuff was probably cold by now. "Just make sure to close the window after you get out."

"Sweet." The monkey faunus winked to his fellow blonde male. "Whoever prepared the stuff inside had good taste with all the variety neatly stacked in. It even had a nice blanket for this weather too."

"Thank you." Pyrrha blushed, happy her preparations were appreciated and wouldn't go to waste. It couldn't be helped that her team would be going into Vale today, so at least someone would enjoy.

"We'll have that picnic another time." JNPR's leader assured his team, getting a mumbled okay from Nora. Looking around, he saw Glynda walking towards them with riding crop in hand and her usual outfit on. "Hello Miss Goodwitch."

"Afternoon Mister Arc." She greeted back. Looking at the team, she nodded as they had straightened up in her presence. Team JNPR's mission would be a success she would be sure of.

 **END**

 **AN: And that's that chapter for now. I know I haven't updated in so long, but with classes back in session it's hard to get things together. I got 3D classes, some interviewing to do, debates, and a nagging feeling in my head that something is missing. In other news I'm thinking of doing a writing tip of how I generate ideas for characters and story developments for people who are interested.**

 **I think Ren would have a breaking point with Jaune always running off and worrying him and Nora. I also had fun making his thoughts and his interactions with others – especially Nora and Jaune. Plus with Nora's antics, it's comedic a bit to pull us out of the serious situation and balance things out. At least that's what I was aiming for.**

 **Next chapter we have JNPR in Vale once more sneaking around as civilians to investigate the low crime. Obviously there's no Roman or Neo to run into, but that's not stopping them from getting results. And with Glynda around its going to be something else.**

 **Aloehisja here saying see you next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**1Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: And I'm back again with a chapter. So much stuff to do. So a lot of you readers jumped the gun thinking this turned into an Arkos. But I'm telling you again, that ships not confirmed. If I was going to make this an Arkos I would have posted it on the summary by now.**

 **Now that that was said, on with the story.**

 **Chapter 12:** Breaches

"Unlike your last trip into Vale, this mission won't have you fighting anyone at all." Glynda glared at the group as they stood in front of her. "We are simply investigating the areas known for being robbed and will document for anything suspicious and out of place."

"Can we still bring our weapons?" Nora asked, patting her folded weapon behind her.

"The only ones to bring their weapons include Mr. Lie." The disciplinarian said, turning to the leader of the group. "I would have let you bring your hidden blade Mr. Arc, but you seem to lack a proper sheath for it."

Of course Glynda knew he had a hidden blade. She wouldn't have been made the instructor for combat class if she weren't highly observant to any fault. It would also make sense why she was the one tasked to this mission – Glynda Goodwitch had the eyes of a hawk.

"I will give you four thirty minutes to head back to your lockers and change into proper civilian disguises. Dress for mobility as well." She instructed them. "Chances are, we will need to sneak through areas to gain access."

"We?" Jaune asked, looking over Goodwitch's usual wear. Getting a quick elbow from Pyrrha for somewhat checking out the teacher, the blonde looked up to see the half lidded stare the older woman was giving him. "Sorry."

"I won't be following any of you, but even I shall be in disguise while in Vale." She told them, giving them different images of what she would be wearing. "You will be informed of the rest once we get on the transport."

Nodding, the four rushed off to the lockers to get changed.

Watching them go off, Glynda had walked to her own quarters to get her own disguise ready.

 **Twenty minutes later**

 **Outside the locker rooms**

"Okay, we finally got something." Jaune nodded as he looked two of his teammates over.

Nora and Ren didn't have that much casual wear for the coming autumn weather, so Jaune and Pyrrha had to lend them some of their clothes. The two hadn't changed yet since helping Ren and Nora pick something was a bit of a hassle – mostly because Nora kept pushing for Ren to wear the Pumpkin Pete's hoodie. It was the only thing Jaune had that could fit Ren and not get in the way of his weapons.

"I thought you burned this thing." The ninja grumbled, not willing to admit how comfortable the thing was despite the stupid rabbit on the front.

"It's a collectible." The leader shrugged, watching Nora burry her head into the rabbit.

"You look so cute in it." The hammer girl squealed, not wanting to let go.

"How come no one said anything when I wore it?" Jaune asked, seeing Ren get some praise for wearing _his_ old hoodie. There was a short silence as the three stared at him with blank stares.

"I'm going to the Bullhead." Ren mumbled, not wanting to answer that. He would have ran, but Nora was still clinging on to him like a sloth hugged its branch.

Turning to Pyrrha, all he could receive was a small smile as she turned away from him. "We should get changed now."

As she went to get changed, Jaune sighed as he walked in to change into his jogging pants and gray hoodie. He would have worn his black one, but it was still in the wash after being stuck in sweat for three days. Looking himself over in the mirror, he still felt a bit of hatred of who he saw but it wasn't as severe as before. He's never noticed before, but he really had changed from the scrawny guy that walked in to this semi-chiseled man that was in front of him.

Walking out and waiting for Pyrrha, he thought of their current situation. She was an amazing woman who was willing to wait for a guy like him, but he thinks it isn't fair. It's not fair for her to wait for him and ignore the other great people around them. He's figured out she's stubborn on her decision so for her sake and his, he'd do all that he could to find himself sooner. Maybe when he did, he'd be ready to take her out on a date – a real proper one.

"I'm ready." Pyrrha called out to him, walking out in an all black tracksuit that hugged her figure just right and with her hair tied in a bun for when she needed to put on her hat. "How do I look?"

"Amazing." He whispered, feeling his mouth dry from the sight of her. He's always known Pyrrha was pretty, but now that he was seeing her as more than just his partner and friend it was like he was seeing her differently now.

"Thank you." She smiled, grabbing his hand and leading the way back to the courtyard. To anyone looking, it would have seemed like a normal civilian couple walking out of Beacon to their transport.

As the two met up with Ren and Nora, they saw them standing ramrod straight as they were looking at someone sitting in the Bullhead they were to ride in. Looking inside, they saw a woman with a black flat cap with shades on sitting near the door entrance. She had a black muffler with purple stripes wrapped around her neck while wearing a leather jacket and tight dark denim jeans that showed her curvy legs and hips. Tuning to Jaune and Pyrrha, the woman tilted her sunglasses down to show them familiar green eyes.

"I see you all are prepared." Glynda nodded as she appraised their appearance after taking her cap off. She will admit, while their sense of fashion was subpar it was so common that it was perfect for the mission. "Step in now. We don't want to waste the remaining daylight."

None had said anything, but the whole ride to Vale the boys couldn't take their eyes off the older woman. This prompted for Pyrrha to elbow Jaune in the ribs and for Nora to stomp on Ren's foot when Glynda wasn't looking. That didn't stop the boys from sneaking glances though. Hunters in training they may be, but they were still hormonal boys with a healthy appreciation for the human body.

 **In Vale**

"Each of your scrolls has marked areas for observation." Glynda told the group after they landed. "Head to those areas and observe for suspicious activity before going to the next. Do not linger too long, do not attract any attention, and do not get caught."

"Where will you be going?" Jaune asked her, wondering what the teacher would be doing.

"Despite my occupation Mr. Arc, I am still a trained huntress." She smirked with a hand on her hip. "I will be gaining information of my own. Your scrolls have the rendezvous point to meet at exactly eleven, and that is where you will find me."

Getting a nod from all of them, the four watched the disciplinarian walk off into a crowd with a sway in her hips and instantly lost sight of her. It seemed like they were finding out more and more on the teacher they feared the most in Beacon.

"She is a badass." Nora said in awe, getting a nod from the other three. "It makes you wonder why _she_ isn't the head of Beacon."

Now that they thought it over, Glynda seemed like the most badass of all the teachers. Sure Ozpin had the whole mystery thing going for him, but the blonde deputy was something else. She could toss anyone aside with a wave of her crop and they had no doubt if it came down to it, she'd beat one bad student with another bad student. Shaking his head of the thought, Jaune turned to his team with scroll out.

"Okay guys, we got our orders." He told them while looking over the areas. As they took their scrolls out, the team noticed that the locations on each one were different. "This has to be a mistake."

"No, I think she wants us to split up." Ren muttered, seeing the only similar mark being the rendezvous point.

"People in a group initially attract more attention than a single person." The champion added, noting how far each of the marks were from one another. "Perhaps she's trying to test us as individuals."

"From the looks of things, I have the slums and downtown area." The leader informed them. "What do you guys have?"

"Town Central." Ren showed his scroll. It was near the CCT too.

"Ooh! I got East Avenue." Nora smiled, knowing that area like the back of her hand.

"Docks and warehouses for me." Pyrrha told them, glad she snuck her scope with her.

"So we all got places we're familiar with." That statement got a raised brow from the three on Jaune. They wanted to ask, but they were still on the clock, so they'd hold it for later. "Once done, call in and head to the rendezvous point and wait there."

With the plan set, the group split up to go do their investigations. Unknown to them, their leader would be going beyond the slums and downtown.

 **Slum Area**

"This is concerning." Jaune gulped as he turned away from a questionable building. He's learnt by now that massage parlors in this type of area _weren't_ for the type of relaxing relief he was looking for.

So far, the blonde knight has been walking over the whole place and found nothing related to dust robberies or White Fang meetings. A few questionable bars with faunus walking in, but once Jaune had gotten close the raunchy music and fake giggles were enough to make him run off. Naïve he may be, but he's seen enough movies to know when he's close to a strip club. The last thing he needed was for anyone linking him to that. Getting a buzz on his scroll, he thought his one of his team members had finished early but it was another message from an unknown number.

 _Peek-a-boo, I see you._

"What the-" Before Jaune could finish his statement, there was the sound of glass breaking and a forceful tug on his back as the scene around him had changed to a shattering world.

 **Roman's Hideout**

"Fuck!" Jaune finished as he felt the world reassemble around him.

Looking around, he saw he was in an LBK* set apartment. The travel took more out of him than he thought since his legs had turned to jelly after he tried to make a step. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he turned around to see Roman's accomplice looking down on him with an amused smirk on her face.

"You're the girl with Roman." He breathed out, trying to remember a name. "Neon, right?"

Seeing her scowl at him, the blonde didn't have to guess to know he was wrong. Grabbing the scroll out of his hand, she pressed a few buttons and shoved it back into his face. Looking it over, it was a correction to her name.

"Neo, right." He sniffed, feeling the energy getting back into him. "So what does Roman want this time?"

Seeing her shake her head, it became a game of charades as Jaune tried to guess what she was saying. She made some sort of fag sign while pretending to smoke and then wagged her finger. After that, she thumbed herself and then pointed to him with a come here motion. He wasn't all into the game, but he laughed a little at her impression of her boss.

"So it's not for Roman but you." He deduced, getting a thumbs up and a smirk in return. "So what is it you want?"

The short criminal was making a thoughtful pose before she placed her index to her temple and tapped it while pointing at him with her other finger. After seconds of him not getting what she meant, she grabbed her scroll out and started texting something for him.

' _I want information.'_ He read her message. "On what?"

' _You.'_ She typed out, getting a raised brow from him.

Jaune was weary on what she wanted to know on him. Roman was one thing, but this person was another. He couldn't just assume both were after the same thing and wanted an out. "Why?"

Her response was a shrug as she sat on her sofa. Patting a spot next to her, he could guess she wanted him to sit next to her. When he didn't move to do so, her eyes had shifted colors as they narrowed. Not wanting to get into a fight when he was weaponless, he immediately took a seat next to her.

' _Let's start over.'_ She typed out for him to read. _'Hi. I'm Neo, and I'd like to know more about you.'_

"What do you want to know?" He asked, still trying to figure out what she was after.

' _Basic things, like what you like.'_ The short girl replied. _'If we're going to be working together, unlike a certain someone, I think a mutual trust will be needed.'_

"Does Roman know about this?" The blonde asked, getting an eye roll out of her.

' _I am more than Roman's shadow.'_ She typed with a puffed cheek. _'He has his end goals, and I have mine. Don't bother asking what they are though.'_

"I still don't get it." He shook his head, still not willing to open up to her. "What are you trying to get out of me?"

' _I need to know if you're reliable enough for ME to use.'_ She typed out with eyes boring into him. _'I told you I have my own goals, and depending on how useful you are you might be important.'_

"So what do you want to know?" He asked, getting a small silent chuckle in return.

' _I need to know if you are easily breakable.'_

Without warning a leg shot out to kick him in the temple, but Jaune leaned back to avoid the hit. Standing up quickly, he backed up a bit as Neo's eyes turned predatory on him. She had her umbrella out and he was unarmored and weaponless. Trying to get to the door, there was a shattering sound before she was in front of his only escape. Swinging her weapon at him, he caught the umbrella but winced as he felt pain on his thigh from a sharp kick with heels. Pulling the umbrella away from her, he was surprised as he found out it was a sheath to a sword.

Neo smirked as she saw him freeze up for a moment. Thrusting her blade to his neck, she thought of scaring him, but found he had recovered and delivered a kick that pushed her back. Patting the area where she was hit, she was more surprised how careless she got. She forgot he wasn't the type to fight fairly like other goody two shoes hunters. Slowly walking to him, she gave a few lazy swings of her blade to scare him, but saw him stand firm with her umbrella still in his hands. Swinging in an upward arc, her blade was met with the parasol as the two locked weapons. He had the height and weight advantage over her, but she was more than skilled fighting people who were constantly taller than her.

With a quick flick of her wrist, she got the parasol out of his hands and managed to kick him to the floor. Just as he was about to get up, she jumped on him and straddled his shoulders to keep his arms from moving. With a blade pointed at his throat, Jaune still gave a defiant glare as he looked frantically around for anything to use against her. Shifting his center of gravity, he was able to raise his legs to kick her in the back and avoid getting stabbed in the neck. The result was Neo falling off him and crashing into her table. Getting up before she could recover, the blonde saw the little lady's shoulders shaking in humor as she picked herself up.

' _Not bad, but not that good either.'_ She commented after getting her scroll off the floor. _'I'll forgive you for the table, but only because you impressed me a bit. You're fighting is average on my standards, but it's enough.'_

"So that's it?" He huffed, wiping the sweat on his forehead.

' _That's it.'_ She shrugged her shoulders while walking to him with a smirk. _'Unlike Roman, I'll be in touch on a more frequent level. So always have your scroll on you at all times.'_

"You think you could put me back where you got me?" Jaune asked, not knowing exactly where they were. For all he knew, the place could be far off from Vale. "I still need to investigate the place."

' _You're wasting your time searching the town.'_ She told him. _'The reason crime's down is because it's happening somewhere else.'_

"Where?" He asked, feeling this was important. She tried making some sort of symbol with her hands like having a fist over her palm and then moving the fist to be under the other hand. Then she did something close to imitating a train without looking ridiculous. "A train and what?"

Neo only smirked and shook her head as she placed a hand on his arm and teleported him back to the slums of Vale. Cursing the lack of answers, he walked off to find his team. Just as he walked a block, his scroll buzzed with a message.

' _Like Roman said, watch out for green and her lies. And don't trust the other bitch with her. She's on a whole other level. P.S. Thanks for the dough.'_

Feeling his wallet, Jaune cursed as he felt it was nearly empty once more. Forgetting about his stolen money, this just kept confirming something was up with the transferee team at Beacon. He didn't care what Neo or Roman's goal was. So long as it didn't involve what was going on with the dust robberies or whatever the White Fang was working on, then he'd ignore it and leave it to the police. Deleting the message like Roman's the other night, Jaune messaged his team he was done with the slums and downtown and was heading off to the rendezvous point. Little did he know that a certain pair of multi-color eyes was on him.

' _Jaune Arc, huh?'_ Neo smirked as she watched him go. Now that her little side trip was done, it was time to head back to Roman's side in Mountain Glenn.

 **On the way to the rendezvous point**

The leader of JNPR sighed as he was now in safer streets. No run-ins with police yet, so things were going okay. Too bad Neo stole his money since he found a stall that sold weapons. The thought of having Ruby help him make a gun came to mind once, but after remembering how she went overboard with her scythe he went against it. Part of him still didn't like how he was the only one on his team that didn't have a firearm. Maybe once the mission was over, he could ask Yang or Blake since their weapons were a bit simpler. No offence to Weiss, but her choice wasn't something he could see himself doing.

Getting to the rendezvous point, he saw it was a bar called the Crow Bar. He got the pun – sounded like something Yang would think of. Taking a seat, he saw he was the only one around with the bartender behind the counter.

"What can I get for you?" The man asked the blonde kindly, still wiping a glass.

"I'm just waiting for a few friends." He replied, not really wanting to drink. "We agreed to meet up here."

"Okay then." The man said, leaving him be. Turning to the screen, there was a commercial talking about the Vytal Tournament coming in a few months time. "You excited for the tournament?"

"What?" Jaune gulped, wondering if his cover was blown. Glynda was going to lash him out for being found out.

"The tournament." The bartender repeated, pointing to the screen. "I'm excited meself. A lot of good teams are fighting this year – even rumors that Pyrrha Nikos will be in it too."

Jaune sighed quietly, happy he wasn't found out. The man was just giving small talk. "I heard that too. It's going to be awesome."

"You're not a student in the tournament?" The man asked, getting a quick shake of the head from Jaune.

"No. I'm just a normal guy here to enjoy the festival." He claimed, wishing his team had arrived soon. "I don't even have a weapon."

"Could have fooled me." As the bartender shrugged and left Jaune to his waiting, more people had entered the bar. "Hello, there. Are you here for a drink?"

"I'd like a rum cola if you don't mind." A familiar voice ordered, getting Jaune to turn around. It was Glynda still in her disguise. As their eyes met, she quirked a brow before turning back to the man.

"This the friend you were waiting for?" The man asked Jaune, getting to work on the drink.

"One of them." He said, wondering why Glynda was ordering alcohol. Sure it was getting late and the sun was now set, but it was more of the idea that she drank that surprised him.

"Looks like you were able to finish quicker than the others." The older blonde said, taking a seat next to him. "I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not."

"I was able to get an… inside clue that things were happening outside of the city." The blonde boy couldn't say he had a direct link to Roman and Neo without being found suspicious and detained. "I couldn't get the specifics, but it had something to do with trains."

"Trains?" Glynda repeated, wondering how credible Jaune's word was.

"I'm not sure myself." He shook his head, doing the same actions Neo made. Glynda must have gotten onto something when he did that because she her demeanor had changed as she sat up straight.

"Of course." She whispered, getting up to find the restroom. She had an important call to make. She'd question how Jaune got the information later, but for now a certain area was to be looked into.

"Here's your rum cola." The bartender returned with the order. "Where'd your lady friend go?"

"She went off to the bathroom." Jaune answered, not knowing what was going on now.

Staring at the drink in front of him, he was tempted to take a sip to try his first alcoholic beverage, but thought against it knowing how strict Glynda was. Just sitting idly by while waiting for the others, Jaune collected his thoughts as he had some time to think about himself. He didn't know where to start on who he was, so maybe listing the things he liked about himself was a good start.

…

…

Okay, so he got nothing. Soul searching was harder than it looked. Stupid TV made it seem so easy – just look inside and you'll know who you are. Well he's looking, and he's still not sure who he is yet!

"Something on your mind?" Glynda pulled him out of his thoughts as she came back from the bathroom. After contacting Oobleck on any possibilities in his area, she was a bit wary even when he brushed off impossibilities of a train working in the underground city while stating the tracks lead to a dead end. Despite the assurance, a part of her felt staying in Vale a few more days would be safe.

"It's nothing." He said, getting her to place a grip on his shoulder. The look she was giving him told him lying to her wasn't a wise decision. "I'm just trying to figure out who I am."

"Ah, of course." She said as if it was a regular thing. "People your age tend to go through that stage in life where they question their roles and identities in life."

"So even you went through this?" The blonde male asked, turning to face her with a bit of glimmer in his eyes. Maybe she could help him find himself.

"Everyone goes through it." The disciplinarian in disguise said, taking her drink and getting a small sip in. "The levels at which we face differ person to person. Some find it easy, while others go through a character breakdown before their true self is shown."

"But how do you know if you finally found yourself?" The young leader mumbled, not seeing how this could help him.

"Even I don't know the answer to that." The blonde woman pushed her glasses up. "It's not like I woke up one morning wanting to be a teacher. I'm not one to boast, but before that I was a-"

Seeing the bartender looking at her and Jaune, Glynda tried to think of a cover up for her real occupation. So far, the warriors in hiding hadn't revealed anything about their real identities. She had to make up something quick! "A freelancer. A true liberal great in my work before one day I got tired of it and I felt my true calling in instructing. I still get tired, but in a different way I can enjoy. I feel I make more of a difference in what I do now."

Jaune nodded at her wise words. So he didn't have a concrete way of finding himself, but he got some insight of how others got it. Maybe he needed to reflect on himself in a different way – look himself over not on just how he saw himself, but what he was now. As his team walked in together to inform Glynda of what they found, Jaune stopped his soul searching to join them. For now, it was time to let them know that Vale was safe for now.

Glynda commended them on their great work on investigating the town while keeping undercover and decided to be lenient a bit. She wasn't going to let them get drunk, but she would allow them to try a cup of alcohol of the whole team's choosing. Some may think of her as too strict, and they are correct, but that is only because they deserved it. Team JNPR so far has shown to be a responsible team despite their past actions. So far, she could pinpoint the source of the problem being team RWBY with the team before her acting as a level head. While Ozpin's focus was on team RWBY given their origins, Glynda's was on team JNPR. It started with a certain leader's fake transcripts, followed by a champion's partnership along with two orphans' joining the team, and then it came to their growth that made her see some hope.

"I vote on sake." Ren pushed for the drink he couldn't get as a child. Now that he was getting the chance, he wasn't wasting the opportunity.

"Aww, but it doesn't taste that good." Nora groaned, getting a questioning brow from all of them. "I mean- I've never had it but it sounds bland. Let's go straight to the mead."

"I am curious on the rum cola." Pyrrha added, getting glares from the two teammates. Jaune was fine with anything, so it was up to their leader to cast the final vote. Turning to the blonde, Pyrrha thought of using her feminine wiles to get her way just this once. Giving him dazzling eyes and a small pout, she combed a piece of her hair back and said his name. "Jaune."

The two figured out what she was doing, and were not going to stand for it. Going to each of their leader's sides, the ninja and the hammer user tried to get him to have it their way.

"A cup of sake shared amongst the team is a great way to show a sign of brotherhood and family." Ren gave his reason. Best way to win was truth mixed with sure want.

"Mead is the same… I think. It's even got more of a taste than sake- so I've heard!" Nora said the last part quickly. She won't say when she's had sake or mead, but she knows what she preferred.

Glynda shook her head as she saw the team harassing their leader. She wasn't one to go back on her offer, so she had to own up to what was happening now. So the team was a bit eccentric in their own way, but it was tolerable. It's not like she didn't go through the same thing in her years as a student or a huntress. This just brought back some sweet memories to some good times.

"When did you even try sake?" The ninja asked his partner as she slipped up once more. It wouldn't matter since the bar didn't serve the drink.

At the end of the day, the group was recommended something called Port Wine after finding out it was their first time drinking – except for Nora that is. Glynda was fine with it since they were all just having one cup each. After the four enjoyed their drink with the only ones getting slightly tipsy being Pyrrha and Jaune, the group followed Glynda to their hotel where they'd be staying the night before going back to Beacon. The disciplinarian was informed by Ozpin to stay in the city for now while he and James had a talk.

 **Hotel room**

It was a bit awkward for Glynda to lie to the hotel clerk that Jaune was her son and that he and his friends were staying with them for the night. The lady manning the counter had tried to stop her to ask her secret on looking so young after getting their ages. Of course the disciplinarian lied on her age to an older year to not make it seem she was a young mother, but the woman took it differently.

"Crow's feet, hmph!" The teacher scoffed, opening the door to the team's room and handing the card to Ren. "Inside now."

Nodding, the four walked inside not wanting to infuriate her any more. As they got inside, Ren and Nora had to gently lay the two tipsy members of JNPR on the queen sized bed. Nora wouldn't admit it to anyone, but seeing them together was like looking at the mother and the father of the team knocked out after a long days of work. At least that's what she thinks it's like – she barely remembers what it was like to have a mom and dad to look up to. In a way, Jaune was the fun goofy dad that tried to act cool and always played with the kids while Pyrrha was the loving mom that wanted the best for them and would sometimes scold them and daddy for doing something wrong.

"Nora?" Ren whispered in concern, seeing her giggle with some small tears leaking out of her eyes.

"It's nothing." She whispered back. "Just a happy fantasy I wish was true."

Patting her on the shoulder, Ren walked off into the showers to get himself cleaned for the night. Seeing a bathtub inside, he guessed a prepped bubble bath for his partner would put her into a higher cheer- but after he finished his own bath.

After fifteen minutes and coming out squeaky clean, Ren called Nora in to surprise her with a tub filled with tons of pink bubbles with a rubber ducky floating on the side. It was all that was needed to bring her back into cheers as she pushed him out of the way and closed the door to spoil herself in some clean fun. Chuckling silently at the sounds inside along with the splashing, Ren turned back to the two still sleeping members of JNPR to see they had shifted with Pyrrha nuzzling into Jaune with the blonde's arms wrapped around her for more warmth. Taking his scroll out, he thought of taking a shot to add in Nora's scrapbook of JNPR memories. This could count as their first official mission out together.

"Delete that." Pyrrha mumbled, not opening her eyes or moving from her spot. Unlike Jaune who was out cold to the world, Nora's splashing and woops woke her up to hear Ren's scroll shutter snap.

Nodding his head, Ren deleted the photo but not before making a back up that was sent to Nora for her book. By the time Nora came out sopping wet even with a robe on, Ren was asleep on his side of the bed with a nice space meant for her. After toweling off and getting into some pajamas Pyrrha packed for her, the ginger laid next to her partner and scooted closer to wrap him up in a hug. If Jaune and Pyrrha were the mom and dad in her fantasy, then Ren was her super hero that always made her smile.

As the four slept peacefully, Jaune's scroll rang causing the boy to fumble around as he tried to stop the intruding noise. It was Pyrrha who grabbed the scroll for him and handed it over while burying her head back into her flesh pillow. After adjusting to the blaring lights of his scroll, the blonde saw that it was a failed call from Ruby.

"Wha?" He mumbled, wondering why she tried to call him. From the looks of things, she was in an area with a bad signal.

 **With Team RWBY**

 **Moments ago**

"I see." Oobleck nodded after Glynda had relayed Jaune's message to him. "Not to worry Glynda. Anything about a train is fruitless since the tracks lead to a dead end. But to be on the safe side, we shall look into it and try to find any evidence."

After dispatching Grimm the whole day with Oobleck asking them questions and observing their prowess, the group had found a good spot to camp for the night and rest up. While Ruby had fallen asleep, the three older girls couldn't get any shuteye after reflecting on their reasons for choosing their paths. Family honor, injustice, and thrills – that was the answers they gave the doctor. For some reason, it just didn't feel that way with what they knew now.

"You awake Yang?" Blake whispered to her partner, getting the busty blonde to turn to her.

"Yeah. Oobleck's question is keeping me up." She answered, shifting to lie on her belly.

"Maybe he was testing us." The cat faunus suggested, not sure herself why they were asked but not their leader.

"Weiss, you awake?" Yang called out to the girl in white.

"Of course, I am. You two keep talking." The heiress snapped, getting the blonde to roll her eyes. After calming down a bit, she felt like elaborating more on her answer. "I know I said I wanted to be a huntress to honor my family, but not in the way you all might be thinking. I'm not so prideful or blind to see that what my father has done put the Schnee name under a more… gray area."

"I'd think it a more darker shade." Blake commented, getting Weiss to sit up.

"Ignoring that." She said through gritted teeth. "My father was not the beginning of the Schnee name, and I refuse to let him be the end of it. It's why I chose to be a huntress and not work in Atlas. To try and show the world I am not my father and I am here to do right."

"At first, my sole reason was to repent for my sins." The cat faunus shared. "I thought doing so as a noble warrior to help the people would be a good start. Through blind following, _I_ wreaked injustice on others thinking it was a change for the better. But I realized I was wrong and the amount of things I helped do was too much."

"After all we've done and learnt though, I don't know what I want anymore." She continued, curling up into a ball. "I don't know if there will be any redemption in the future or if there ever will be an equality."

"There will." Yang comforted her, seeing her breaking a bit. "At least you two have a good reason. Thrills? It's honest but sounds selfish now that I think it over. I wanted to go through my days not knowing what tomorrow would be bring, and being a huntress was a convenient way of getting it. I guess that's why Ruby wasn't asked. She wants to be the hero like in the story books and help people."

"She's still just a kid." Weiss pointed out, knowing how rosy eyed her partner was.

"She's only two years younger than us. And can you say that after what she saw?" Blake stood up for her. "Even if it was just one murder or two, she got a glimpse of a darker side of reality. Her and Pyrrha."

"Do you think she's doing okay now?" Weiss asked the older sister in concern, glancing to Ruby who was clutching her sniper tightly to her chest as she slept. They tried to ease her into what had happened, but she wasn't sure if the little leader had completely accepted it yet. "She should know by now it wasn't her fault."

"She'll get through it." Yang mumbled, lying back down to try and rest up. "I think some time back home will help her. Our semester break is coming up before the tournament, so I think a talk with our dad will straighten her up more than what we did."

"I hope so." Blake muttered, knowing there were so many things that could crush the girl's dream.

"Let's make a pact." The heiress said suddenly, getting the two to stare at her. "We obviously can't save everyone from getting hurt or killed. But we can do what we can to make sure nothing like what happened to Ruby ever happens again to any of us. Regardless of our reasons, we're still huntresses. The lives of the many matter more than what we want."

"Yeah." Yang agreed with Blake nodding too. Up on a beam, they didn't know a certain doctor had been listening in.

While happy they were able to impress him with their resolve, a new concern had popped up. A certain leader needed to have another counseling with him and so did another redhead on another team. Bt for now, he'd rest up to have some energy for the next day.

 **Midnight**

Ruby was having a nightmare as she clutched her weapon close to her chest. In her dream, the people she had failed to save were haunting her.

" _It wasn't me!"_ She shouted to the ghosts as they blamed her for their deaths.

' _I was just driving home back to my wife and kids.'_ One ghost cried, clutching his broken head.

' _Why couldn't you save us from that woman!'_ A guard cried with his friend crying on his shoulder.

" _I wanted to save you."_ She whimpered, tears falling down her face. "I wanted to save you."

As she was starting to mumble in her sleep, Zwei had woken up to lick her face and wake her from her nightmare. After a few more continuous licks to get rid of the salty tears, the little corgi's owner had woken up to see the cute beady eyes staring at him.

"Zwei?" She whispered, getting another lick before she hugged him to her chest in grief. "Oh, Zwei."

Nuzzling his head into her neck to comfort her, the corgi did what it could to help. After a moment of silence with Ruby calming down, the dog's ears perked as it felt something. Struggling it's way out of his owner, the corgi zipped off to go far away from the group. Ruby had followed him, not wanting him to go off alone with possible Grimm still in the area.

"What is it boy?" She whispered, seeing him zip around another corner. Catching up, she saw the corgi had just needed to pee. "Zwei."

"Ugh, the place stinks." Ruby heard an unknown voice.

Quickly grabbing her dog, she hid in a building and peeked out of a window to see two White Fang members trudging along with weapons in their hands. Pulling her scroll out, she tried to reach her team but found the signal was too weak to contact them. After the coast was clear, Ruby got out from her hiding place to see where they were headed. She was too late though since she lost sight of them.

"We have to go tell the others." The little reaper whispered to her dog. Just as she was on her way back, the ground beneath her cracked.

Before she could use her semblance, gravity had pulled her down along with Zwei. Catching onto the edge with one hand and Zwei in the other, she tossed her dog over to the stable ground and tried to pull herself up.

"Oh cra-!" Ruby almost cursed as the edge she had been holding onto broke off and she was sent falling into the dark below.

 **Underground city**

"Ooph!" Landing on her back and wheezing from the impact, Ruby was forever thankful for aura's gift of taking the hit. Although it could use it's work on also cushioning falls – just in case of bad landing strategies.

"Look what we have here." A White Fang grunt walked in with a partner. "This girl's a long way from home."

Weaponless and with no idea of where to go, Ruby so badly regretted not listening to Yang or her dad when they told her to try and learn some hand to hand. Note to self, ask her sister how to do hand to hand of she made it out of this.

"Ain't this that little girl that beat Roman up?" The other smirked, grabbing her arm with his partner getting the other. "He's going to want to see you."

After getting dragged off into an area with train tracks, Ruby spotted bombs and other White Fang grunts loading up trains.

"Let's get a move on people. I've got better things to do with my time." A voice Ruby didn't want to hear was heard echoing in the area. Walking towards them, Roman Torchwick sauntered with cane and cigar. The moment he saw her dragged in, his thin scowl turned into a smirk. "Well hey there Red. We gotta stop meeting like this."

"Torchwick." The hooded girl gritted, trying to struggle. "What is all this?"

"You mean my little redecorating?" He motioned to everything behind him. "I know, it's not all that impressive. But that's what happens when you-"

Ruby took this chance to use her semblance to run away. The grunts holding her arms had slackened their grip and she was making a mad dash far away from the group. She didn't make it that far though since Roman cane had a grappling hook on the handle that caught her. After being dragged back by her neck, she was looking up to the amused stare of the orange haired criminal.

"Now that was rude." He huffed with a winning smirk. "Didn't daddy tell you it's not polite to run off when others are speaking to you?"

Leaning closer to the point his mouth was in her ear, he whispered for only her to hear. "Stick around longer kid and you'll know what we're up to. Vale's got a bug surprise heading their way."

Whatever he was going to say was halted as sounds of gunfire and explosions were heard a few buildings in front of them. Grunts were running away towards the train with a few firing to shoot whatever was coming their way. Ruby took this chance to free herself and run off. Dodging bullets and fire dust rounds, she was able to turn a corner and bump into her older sister.

"Ruby!" The older blonde cheered, relieved to see her sister once more. Behind her was the rest of team RWBY plus Oobleck.

"We have to stop Torchwick." The leader told her sister while pointing to the train. "He's loaded up the trains with bombs and they're going to Vale."

"I have to alert Glynda." The doctor said, pulling out his scroll.

"I'm calling Jaune." Ruby did the same with hers. Both cursed silently as they saw their signal was still low. Hearing the train starting up, the little leader faced her team. "We have to stop that train."

 **END**

 **AN: Really been a busy time. As I've said before, still no ships confirmed. Hidden things that could escalate. Trauma, some deep answers, some thoughts here and there. And Torchwick still being fabulous.**

 **Remember to review.**


	13. Omake-bon

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Hey all. Aloehisja here. The title says it all, so no need for me to say anything about it that much. It's just some stuff I didn't get to put into the story since it would have dragged off. Some are even deleted ideas I didn't put in.**

 **Omake 1:** Jaune does a thing

Jaune sighed as he trudged his way to his dorm. _Doctor_ Oobleck had him stay back for a bit of counseling on his quizzes. The blonde was good at seatworks and scheduled tests, but when it came to surprise tests and quizzes he was a mess. Tapping his scroll on the door, he tried to open it, but felt it didn't budge.

"What the-?" He muttered, trying to tap again once more and felt it didn't work. "Guys? Did you do something to the door?"

Knocking after not hearing anything, he got no response in return.

"C'mon guys, this isn't funny." The leader groaned, not liking the prank. "I just wanna go in and lie down for a bit."

Again, he got no response. "The silent treatment, huh? Is this because of the smell this morning? Because I told you guys it wasn't me. I have the courtesy _not_ to let one rip with others around. I know it was you Nora. You were the one smiling the hardest!"

Jiggling the door one more time, he grumbled as it wasn't even unlocked. If they wanted to play that way over something that wasn't his fault, then he'll take his company elsewhere.

"Fine!" He huffed, turning away from the door. "I'll just hang out with team RWBY instead."

Turning to Ruby's door, Jaune knocked on the door. After waiting for a few more minutes, no one had opened up.

' _Maybe they're on their scrolls or someone's out.'_ The blonde thought, taking his scroll out to call Ruby to check if they were out. "Hey Ruby, are you and your team out of your dorm?"

" _No."_ His fellow leader replied back, not knowing what was going on. _"We're all in out rooms. Why?"_

"I was knocking on your door, but you guys didn't answer me?" He said, feeling a little hurt for being ignored.

" _You did?"_ She gasped, the sounds of some rustling and some footsteps. _"I'm so sorry. I didn't hear a thing."_

"It's okay." He replied, getting up off the floor and facing the door. "I'm still outside right now, and I was hoping if I could hang with you and your team for a bit. My team locked me out."

" _That's terrible."_ Ruby said, not thinking it very nice. After a clicking sound, it was confirmed the door was now unlocked. _"You can come on in now."_

Trying to turn the handle, Jaune quirked a brow as the door was still locked. "Ruby are you sure the door is open? Because I'm turning the handle and it's still not opening."

" _What are you talking about Jaune? I already unlocked it."_ She said back, truth in her voice. " _Try again."_

Jiggling the handle one more time, the blonde sighed as it was still locked. "Still locked. I eve jiggled it."

" _Are you sure, because I was looking at the handle the whole time and it didn't move."_ The little reaper told him, getting them both confused. _"Is this a prank?"_

"I'm wondering if you're the one pranking me." He said back, feeling like he was being played. After realizing they were still taking to each other through their scroll when they were just one door open away, the blonde never felt more stupid than now. "Why don't you just open the door?"

" _Alright."_ Ruby said, hanging up on him.

After waiting for what felt like forever, Jaune got the feeling Ruby was really pranking him. "Ruby? Hello?"

Getting no answer in return, Jaune felt annoyance quell up.

"Oh, I see how it is." He nearly shouted. "You think it's funny to mess with someone and ignore them. Well then, if this is how things are going to be then I-"

"Mr. Arc." Goodwitch's voice called out to him. Turning to face her, Jaune saw she was looking a little annoyed as well. "What are you doing in the transferees' dorms."

"The what?" He said dumbly, feeling even dumber than before

 **With Ruby**

"Jaune?" Ruby called to him, looking out of her room to see no one in the halls. "Did you teleport or turn invisible?"

Just then, the two girls of team JNPR had rushed out of their rooms hacking and covering their noses.

"You are so gross Ren." Pyrrha said nasally with a cloth covering her lower face.

"I told Jaune it wasn't me!" Nora coughed, waving a hand in front of her face.

"What happened to you two?" The little reaper asked, walking up to them and catching a whiff of something that put the tank in stank. "Ohmy-! What is that smell?!"

Apparently, Ren's detoxifying drink got rid of toxins in a more …gassy method. One would think he'd have the proper control for such a thing, but in this case it came in surprises. The ninja could only groan as he opened up a window. And there he thought trying to pin it on Nora would work.

 **END**

 **AN: From a guy who took natural detoxifying foods and drinks I can tell you that those things can be tasty, but the after effects need solitary confinement and a lighter.**

 **Omake 2:** Girl Talk

After Pyrrha got pulled into team RWBY's dorm by Yang to show off the new clothes they bought, the redhead spied Jaune and the others closing the door to their dorm as they readied to play a game together. She supposed a night away from her team would be fine. It's been so long since she's talked with girls her age without it being about celebrity gossips or business. Sitting in a circle with Blake joining in grudgingly, they all thought to try sharing on their preferred taste in men – something Ruby wasn't interested in.

"I don't know about you gals, but I'd like a guy who knows how to dominate." Yang started, getting a raised brow from Weiss and Pyrrha. "I know, it doesn't seem like me. But there's just something about having a guy being able to scoop you up, you know? Next to that, I'd like a guy who's got some neat tricks up his sleeves. He'll always have some sort of surprise that gets me off."

Weiss was prepared for the worse, but this was surprisingly tame. The heiress thought, the blonde would have talked about phalli's and positions she preferred to be in.

"So who's next?" The busty blonde looked them over before pointing to her little sister. "You don't need to go Rubes. We know you like tall, blonde, and not so scraggly anymore."

"Yang!" Ruby blushed, not liking that her sister was teasing her again.

"I'm sorry." She replied back, fanning herself with her hand. "But I couldn't stop looking at that chest. And with that nice toned butt… brrr. I'm getting chills. Whoof! You got yourself a keeper baby sis. I've even scoped the package, and it gives little for wanting if you know what I mean. Mhmm~."

And there was the lewdness, Weiss thought as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Turning to Pyrrha, she saw the champion was also turning red on the cheeks and ears. No doubt she was getting sick of the lewd talk too. Clearing her throat and purging her mind off of the dunce's …body, she thought to share since no one was going.

"For my preference, I like someone who is intellectual." The heiress said, trying to think of a proper word. "Someone I can trust deeply to get the job done and knows the very definition of hard work. Of course, he must also be visually appealing at all times otherwise I wouldn't dare to be seen with him."

"Ooh, Weissy wants a man with experience." Yang waggled her brows, giving the heiress a saucy smirk. "No wait, she wants a man with se-"

"Finish that sentence and I turn your bed into a frozen pin cushion." The Schnee threatened, getting the brawler to shut up. Turning to Blake, the cat faunus was off somewhere else in her own world. It was concerning. "Blake?"

"Dependable and a hard worker." She said, knowing they wouldn't leave her alone if she didn't say anything. "Someone I can trust and respects me. That's it."

At least they got something out of her. Yang would have pressed for more, but knew this would have had the opposite effect with the cat faunus possibly getting up to leave them. Since she did share something, they let it slide. The only one left was Pyrrha.

"So P-money." Yang turned to the champion with a hairbrush in hand like a microphone. "Tell us. What makes the champion all woozy?"

"I-I like guys." She started off lamely before clearing her throat to compose herself. "I like someone who's funny and sweet."

"I see." The blonde nodded, motioning he to continue.

Thinking of Jaune in mind, Pyrrha's thoughts became clearer as she got the list of things she liked about him. "He's also got this infectious smile that somehow brightens up the room and makes me happy with just the little things he does like greeting me in the morning despite my horrible attitude on waking up. He can make me mad too and worry me when he doesn't share what he's thinking, but then he surprises me when he opens up and it …it clenches at my chest of how he can make me feel so normal. But what I like the most is the nickname he calls me and how we can openly tease each other and know there's nothing malicious behind it."

So caught up in her own explanation, the redhead didn't know three of the four girls listening to her were sitting in front of her like children being told a bedtime story with eyes shimmering and cheeks a shade of pink. Yang was even holding Ruby close to her chest like a teddy bear while the little sister was hugging a pillow while curled in a ball. Off to the side, Blake wasn't all into it but she still had a small tint of pink on her cheeks too.

"…Wow." Weiss whispered, clenching her chest as her heart was racing. "That person really sounds sweet. How come we've never met him before?"

Blake and Yang snapped out of their own thoughts as they looked to the heiress. Was she that dense? Pyrrha was obviously talking about-

"But isn't Ren taken by Nora?" Ruby asked, getting the partners to stare at their leader with Pyrrha's gaze falling on her with a quirk of a brow. "I know you're free to love whoever you want Pyrrha, but you're pining after a guy who's already taken."

"It's not Ren." The Mystralian fighter shook her head, not seeing the quiet boy in that way. She'll admit he was good looking, but she was after more than a face.

"She's talking about Jaune." Yang stated the obvious, getting Ruby to 'ooh' in realization and Weiss to question the champion's description.

"Making mad and worrying I can understand, but is all that stuff true?" The heiress asked Pyrrha, getting a nod in return with a shade of pink her cheeks. "Hmph. Who knew the dunce had it in him?"

"C'mon, Weiss." Yang rolled her eyes. "Hasn't he proven he's not a dunce yet? I saw you checking him out in the ring before the fight."

"I-I was in shock of such a drastic change of appearance. That's all!" She made an excuse. "You'd be surprised too if you were that close to a half naked boy."

"Funny, since you weren't like that with Sun." The blonde smirked, catching Weiss off guard.

"Aargh!" The dust user growled, clutching her head on how she could explain herself to Yang. Remembering something herself, she got a winning smirk of her own as she recalled the blonde shouting something. "What about you? I seem to remember someone shouting 'I'm sinnin' tonight.' Ring any bells?"

"Easy Snowflake." Yang held her hands out with smirk still on. "If you want to see me diddle myself, you need to buy me dinner first."

Drat! The sun dragon wasn't denying anything and had turned it on her. Feeling eyes on her, Weiss saw the rest of the girls were staring at her with uncomfortable eyes. Pyrrha had even inched away from her. Thinking it over, she could figure out what they were assuming.

"I wasn't- I didn't mean." Weiss stuttered before feeling defeat once more in a match of words. "I give up."

Thankfully, Ruby changed the subject to something not boy related like cooking and such. It turned sour after Weiss listed off the different types of butlers she had ranging from a cake butler, to a cookie butler, and oddly enough a peppermint butler. Why there was a single butler for each task she did not know, but it just proved how rich the heiress was.

 **Room JNPR**

"Dammit Ren!" Nora punched the floor. "Pick someone other than Oddjob! No Oddjob in slappers. Don't be a dick."

"Fine." The ninja relented, picking a scientist while Jaune was some pilot.

Currently the score was a tie between each of them with him winning normal mode, Jaune winning on mines only, and Nora on rockets and grenades only. Slappers was the tie breaker round.

"Again, no one look at anyone else's screen." Jaune reminded them. "That means you Nora."

"Yeah, yeah." She grumbled, picking some other character not Jaws. The guy was like a big target to easy to hit.

 **END**

 **AN: I had a cousin who always used Oddjob and it sucked how he'd always say he was going easy after he lost. Then the whole cheating about having a code that needed to have me die ten times for it to work. And let's not forget "Hey wait. I'm gonna show you something cool." Either he runs away or shoots me and says it didn't work. And if I don't cooperate, then here comes the complaining about being 'unfair.'**

 **Omake 3:** Ruby does a thing

After shooing Jaune out of the forge, Ruby looked at the sword in her hand that needed a new handle. Taking her scroll out, she played heavy metal as she paced around the weapon with hammer and tong in hand. There was a glint in her eye as she picked the blade up and turned to the furnace. Time to see how tough this baby was!

"BURN!" The little reaper cheered with a manic smile on her face. "Ahahahaha! Burn baby!"

Pulling the blade out, she marveled how it glowed so brilliantly. Putting it on the anvil, she thought to test it's strength more by hammering it while hot. She bit her lip as there was no sign of any dent after thirty strikes. Dunking it to cool it off, she gasped how shiny it came out. Almost like it was new.

"Well hello there." She purred, showing a side of the Xiao Long blood in her. "You clean up nicely, don't you. What's that? You're lonely without your shield? Don't worry. I've got a perfect friend for you to meet. She'll be ready in a few minutes so you sit tight."

The heavy metal music was still blasting as Ruby got to work on the sword's new partner. Looking at the tanto blade she had created, she felt something lacking as she inspected it. It was so sleek, so sharp. So …dull.

"Of course!" She snapped her fingers, putting it into a heating pod to discolor the metal. After minutes, she had pulled it out to see a perfectly red blade. Placing the handle on and braiding so beautifully, she walked over to the sword to introduce the two. "Crocea Mors, the Yellow Death. I present to you your other half. Just like the shield, it's now a part of you too."

And once Ruby put the two together, she looked upon her work and saw it was good.

 **END**

 **AN: I couldn't think of a name for the red tanto so yeah. At first I was thinking of making it a name, but I went against it. It's still part of the sword so let it be.**


	14. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: So been through some things. While writing this, I even had to think of myself too. Battled some insecurities and other stuff that pertains to life and death with victories and failures and I'm feeling a bit good for now. Even started eating healthier things after finding out some of the stuff I shoveled down had bad preservatives that could kill me. Body's trying to get used to it since all the healthy things are detoxifying me as much as it can and it's also playing on my mind too.**

 **But enough about me, you came here for a story, so let's get to it.**

 **Chapter 13:** Put to the test

Yang didn't know how it came to this as they had all boarded the train. Time was crucial as team RWBY's objective was to somehow stop the running mass of heavy metal from charging into Vale. They found out that the bombs were being used to open pathways for the Grimm to come into the tunnels, and that the dead end Oobleck had talked about lead straight into the city of Vale. After separating from Ruby and the doctor who were fighting above as a distraction, the three were tasked to try and stop the train from the inside.

"I guess this is what we trained for." The busty blonde nodded to her two friends, as they looked the interior over. It looked like all the grunts were up above fighting.

"Here." Weiss tossed Blake a cartridge of dust rounds. "You might need this."

"Thanks." The cat faunus loaded the item.

Taking three steps, the group of three was met with a flash as Neo appeared in front of them. Seeing the smirk on her face, they knew it meant she'd try to stop them.

"You two go on ahead." Yang told the two while stepping forward. "I got this."

Blake and Weiss ran forward to pass Neo. Seeing her place her hand on the handle of her umbrella to attack, Yang shot a round to distract and give the two time to get past her. The short woman wasn't fazed by it as she back-flipped to absorb the shock and momentum. Walking forward to stand toe to toe with her, Yang narrowed her eyes as she received a challenging smirk in return. Gritting her teeth at being looked down on, Yang made to throw a punch but reeled back by a hit to her gut. Looking up, she saw the girl's umbrella was extended out showing what had hit the blonde.

' _Great, she's fast.'_ Yang cursed, rubbing the spot where she was hit. _'But I'm faster!'_

Charging forward, she reeled her fist back to give the short girl a good one. Having that dodged, she went for a low kick only to have Neo lift hers in response. All quick successions Yang was trying to pull failed since Neo could easily block, dodge, and even counter her using umbrella de combat and a few kicks. After having the umbrella being opened in her face, Yang tried to break it with a powerful punch but growled as the ice cream colored girl flipped back until she sat on a crate to in a taunting fashion.

' _Damn it, damn it, damn it!'_ The blonde's head was boiling. Feeling herself losing control, she shook off her thoughts to try and control herself. She wanted to get calm, but there was too much pressure riding on the line.

Unlike Jaune who's tranquil fury could be turned on and off like a switch because of making a formless style, Yang's berserker method was used way too much to try and change on a dime. She's tried to fix it, but every time she did it ended with her going back to blind fury. Fury was all she was. She couldn't concentrate it while keeping a level head because that wasn't her.

' _Get it together, Yang'_ She breathed out, trying to keep in control while seeing red. _'Take it slow and work up from there.'_

She may not be able to hold her anger for long, but al those times sparring with Jaune gave her a new move to use. It was a cheap move that was super weak and a gamble from the times he's used it on her, but with her strength – she could pull it off. All she needed was to have the perfect timing.

 **With Blake and Weiss**

Entering the next room, the two were greeted to a large grunt with a tattoo on his arm and a chainsaw in his hand. The mask he had on covered his mouth and the way he dragged his weapon on the ground was a show he was trying to intimidate them.

"I've always wanted to kill a Schnee." He said in a gruff voice while hoisting his weapon up to rev it. "Looks like I get that chance today."

"I'll take care of this." Weiss told her friend, getting into her stance. As Blake ran forward, Weiss shot past her and pushed the man back woth a thrust to give the cat faunus a chance to get ahead and into the next room. With a quick riposte, she was able to knock the large man onto the floor.

 **In the next room**

"Hey there kitty cat." Roman greeted her. "No blondes around this time? How is the cowboy doing by the way?"

"What's your aim?" Blake pointed her weapon at him. "We figured out you want out of whatever this is, so why go through with it?"

"You think I have a choice?" He nearly spat out, dropping his cigar and grinding it harshly. "Funny thing, _Blake._ I was recruited. I can't stop them and you don't have a chance of stopping them; so I'm just playing along while trying to open my way out of it."

"Who?" She asked, feeling this went deeper than just him and the White Fang.

"Oh Blakey, Blakey, Blakey." The criminal shook his head while pointing his cane at her. "Even I know not to sell out the devil so easily."

BANG!

Dodging the shot, Blake shot forward and slashed Roman with her blade. Unlike the docks, she had improved immensely but this was feeling too easy for some reason. Even while using the dust cartridges and managing to knock him down, the way he moved was like he didn't have everything put into the fight. Stepping on his chest and pointing her blade at his throat, she looked down at him for answers.

"Start talking." She snarled, not wanting to waste time. The train was still moving, but the information he had now felt more important.

 **With Yang**

"Rah!" Yang shouted, failing to hit Neo once more.

Her body was starting to pile up a lot of the energy her semblance was storing up and it was almost time to try and get that one window open. After getting a kick to the gut once more that had her pushed down, Yang got up and suppressed the energy crying to be released. She was too far to spring it out. Stomping forward, her hands were shaking to deck the girl in front of her so hard.

Neo was just watching Yang with an amused smirk knowing the blonde couldn't win. Once she was getting close enough, the short girl thought she'd end it with the busty blonde's head smacking the ceiling before impaling her. Truthfully, the berserker wouldn't be needed in her goals – she was expendable and would even slow down Cinder's plans. Seeing Yang pull both her hands back, Neo guessed the blonde was going to try a two handed punch out of desperation.

BOOM!

Neo flew back from an unexpected wave that rattled the whole compartment. The ice cream girl shut her eyes and clutched her ears from the high frequency ringing she was hearing that was disorientating. Yang used all that stored up power to give a super clap that could cause a sonicboom. That was the opportunity she needed and grabbed the girl by the neck. It was a very deep satisfaction when she slammed the evasive girl's head on the ground. Picking her up to punch her into the next door, the girl shattered into pieces.

"What the-?" Was all Yang got out before she felt an umbrella wrapped around her neck and she was twisted around then flung up to hit the roof.

Rubbing the back of her head from the pain, Neo scowled while taking her blade out. Being slammed to the ground hurt a lot, and Neo didn't like that. Walking over to stab the unconscious girl behind the head, a portal opened up and a woman with a red katana wearing a Grimm mask jumped out. The new woman in the room slashed at the silent girl to back her away from Yang. Neo could tell this woman was a lot stronger than even Roman and her combined, so she quickly left in a flash. Regardless whether Yang lived or not, she wasn't going to be much of a problem for her.

The masked woman looked down at the unconscious blonde with no sound before taking her katana out to open up another portal. Stepping through, she didn't notice Yang opening her eyes to catch a glimpse of her. By the time got up to join her friends, she stopped questioning if it was a dream or not.

 **Weiss and the lieutenant**

This fight was Weiss'. The man was too slow and she could counter everything he had. She's learnt her mistakes and acknowledged her limits – plus getting tripped so many times and running into fists helped a lot. The big moral lesson she's gotten so far was that why throw her weight around, when she could just throw her foes' so easily. It was starting to turn humorous how this big hulking chainsaw wielder couldn't learn the fact that she had full control of the field.

He had the superior reach physically and the strength to halve her aura if he wanted. He knew it and so did the heiress. Which was why she was making it easier on herself by keeping her distance. The chainsaw was a dangerous weapon and just one swing could have her out of commission that fast.

"Come on!" The large man roared, punching the ground and making a dent.

Getting back up from being thrown against the wall, he let off one more beastly roar before charging at her. She smirked, thinking him a fool for not doing the same mistakes over again. That smirk soon fell once she saw him throw his chainsaw while it was still on. Weiss managed to dodge the weapon just as it was inches away from cleaving her in half from the gut, but she was left open to the large man's hand grabbing her by the head and slamming her into the ground. He didn't let up though as he picked her up to slam her into the metal floors repeatedly.

Her aura was trying to absorb the impact, but her brain wasn't doing so well being sloshed around. Concentrating on any glyph as fast as she could, Weiss popped one out to push the lieutenant away and summoned another one out to throw him hard to the other side of the room where she stuck him in froze him in place. Nursing her aching head and walking to the next room, the doors opened on her to show Blake standing over Roman. The cat faunus turned around to see her before turning back to the criminal.

"Hey Ice Queen." He greeted her with a wave. "We were just-hugh!"

Whatever Roman was about to say was cut off as Blake kicked him in the jaw to knock him out. Turning to her friend, she saw Weiss staring at her with a questioning gaze.

"I'll fill you in later." She told her friend, moving on ahead. They still needed to stop the train.

 **With Ruby and Oobleck**

"We're running out of time." Ruby shouted over the wind in her ears.

"You go on ahead." The teacher told her, firing a few shots to the Paladins trying to get to them.

"What about you?" She asked, seeing more grunts and mechs climbing up to them. She didn't doubt Oobleck could fend for himself, but there were still too many of them.

"Don't worry about me Ruby." He turned his back to her. "It's time for me to teach them a lesson."

With nothing more to say, he charged ahead to meet the oncoming foes. Feeling a scratch on her leg, Ruby looked down to see Zwei looking up at her with pleading eyes.

"Go." She whispered to him, getting a doggy smile in return as the corgi went to join her teacher.

Zipping ahead, she saw her team waiting for her as they were approaching the sealed wall. They were too late to stop the train, but that didn't mean they couldn't fight. Turning to her partner, they shared a nod knowing what to do. Weiss covered them in an ice shield to absorb the impact and waited with her team for the inevitable.

 **With Glynda and JNPR**

The disciplinarian kicked down the door to JNPR's hotel room to see the team peeking out of their hotel window. The crash had woken them up as well.

"Miss Goodwitch, what's going on?" Pyrrha asked, phoning in for her weapons locker as the others did the same.

"Vale Police announced a train crash in town." She told them, not wasting time. "Wait for your weapons before heading out. As of now, the mission objective has changed. Save the civilians, and kill the Grimm."

"Ren, can you scout ahead to see what's happening at the crash?" Jaune asked his teammate, getting a nod in return. "Okay. If you see any other hunters, group up with them to stay safe. We'll be joining you once our weapons are secured."

Opening the window, Ren dashed out and hopped from building to building in the direction of the smoke. They haven't killed Grimm in a while now, but all the training he's been doing has lead up to this. Back in the hotel room, the remaining three were running to the hotel roof where their lockers should be landing. Glynda went off to save any civilian in danger and repair anything repairable.

After making their way to the top floor, the rest of team JNPR got a clear view what was going on down below. Pyrrha took her scope out and spotted Nevermore flying in. From the looks of things, they'd be reaching the crash site in fifteen minutes. The redhead hoped their weapons would come before then otherwise they'd be too late.

"Here they come!" Nora jumped in joy seeing their lockers flying their way.

Jaune whooped along with her as he spotted them too. His cheer soon turned into a frown once he saw one of the lockers swerving down where the crash was. Looking to the two girls, they shared a look as they wondered who's locker that belonged to. After the two lockers crash landed, Nora and Pyrrha gave Jaune a blank stare as they held their weapons out.

"I goofed." He stated the obvious, getting his scroll taken by Pyrrha.

"You set your locker coordinates wrong." His partner told him with a sheepish grin. "Luckily you had it crash land where we're headed, so there's nothing wrong with that."

"I wonder if anyone was surprised by that?" Nora said, looking over to their destination.

 **With RWBY**

 **A few seconds ago**

"Weiss, look out!" Ruby shouted to her partner as an Ursa Major was right behind the heiress.

Turning around, Weiss gasped at the monstrous size of the thing that snuck up on her. As it roared in her face to disorientate her, she was frozen while watching it raise it's paw to swipe her head off. To whatever deity that was listening, she'd change her ways if a miracle could be sent to kill this monster before it did her.

SMASH!

Ask and ye shall receive for a random locker had crashed onto the damn thing and killed it from the weight and speed. Not wanting to be any more distracted, she turned away from the locker to get back into the fight. She didn't even bother to see who's name was on the metal container that saved her life. Cutting a few Beowolves down, Weiss was surprised to see a civilian running up to them and joining in the battle. Once he was close though, she smiled knowing exactly who that person was.

"Ren!" She called to him, happy to see a friend ready to help.

Dashing towards her, the ninja pulled his weapons out of his sleeves and fired behind Weiss at the Creeps attempting to flank her. Summoning a glyph, Weiss propelled them into another horde of Grimm and far away from her.

"Where're the others?" The heiress asked, keeping her back to him as they covered each other's blind spots.

"Currently getting their weapons." He answered, firing another round on an Ursa trying to charge at him.

After a few minutes of clearing a good radius around them, the two heard a loud hissing to their side and saw a King Taijitu rising out of the hole to loom over them.

"Oh great." Ren huffed, seeing the first thing he killed on initiation. "That thing."

Getting into a defensive stance to kill it like he did before, there was a loud crack in the air with a whistling sound getting louder. Weiss and Ren lowered their guard to turn to the source to see a flying Nora speeding their way before she slammed her hammer down on the giant snake. The blow was fatal enough that the bone plate broke and the Grimm fell limp. Landing between the two, the hammer wielder stuck the landing with a heroic pose. Looking the battlefield over, she spotted the locker that saved Weiss' life.

"There it is." She said to herself, skipping over to the weapons locker while swatting any Grimm that came up to her like flies with her hammer. Prying it open, she took the weapon inside and tucked it under her free arm.

"Nora." Ren called to her, firing a few rounds to anything that looked like it was coming their way. "Where are Jaune and Pyrrha?"

As if on cue, the two partners arrived with the redhead carrying her embarrassed leader in a bridal carry. Jaune may have learnt a lot of things from team RWBY, but proper control of his aura was something he hadn't thought to work on. He made a mental note to amend that once this was all over.

"Hey Jaune. Catch!" Nora called to he leader, throwing him his sword which he caught while still being held by Pyrrha.

"You can let me down now." The blonde told his partner, getting a small giggle in return as she put him down to join in the fight. Watching her dash off using aura, Jaune really wished he had learnt how to do the same.

"So who's first?" He looked around, unsheathing his sword and taking the tanto out while his shield covered his unarmored back. Hearing a grunt behind him, he turned around to see an Ursa Major bigger than the last one he faced in Forever Fall. "Okay."

It was ironic that he'd be facing one again. Unlike last time where Pyrrha had helped him, Jaune would kill this giant bear in front of him with his own skill alone. Steeling his nerves, he charged forward and slashed with the long blade right at its chest before ducking a paw aimed for his head. Twirling, he used the momentum to lob off an arm then ducked down to stab it repeatedly with the tanto four times. Jumping back to avoid getting crushed by the last arm, Jaune stomped on it to keep it in place as he severed the last arm from its owner. Now that the Ursa Major was 'unarmed,' it was defenseless to a straight stab from the tanto going from its jaw up to its brain.

Pulling the small blade out, Jaune marveled on what he marked as his very first solo Grimm kill. Turning to the others, he spotted Pyrrha giving him a small glance before she looked away to continue fighting. Running off to fight more Grimm, the knight spotted a hole where Zwei popped out with Oobleck following close behind. It was kind of hard to believe seeing the cute little corgi being able to tackle Grimm, but he was witness to it.

Running to look into the hole where Grimm and Paladins were crawling out of, Jaune spotted orange and white. Looking around, he saw everyone was distracted so he took the chance to jump down. There he saw Roman Torchwick slumped and unconscious by a corner in a ridiculous pose that was bad for his posture. Kneeling down and slapping him awake, the master criminal stirred to meet the blue eyes of Jaune.

"Hey there cowboy." He grunted in pain, rotating his jaw and nursing the spot where Blake kicked him. "It's a small world after all, isn't it."

Roman didn't know if luck was on his side or not but with the appearance of the blonde, he felt it was time to cash in a favor – and probably fuck with Cinder while he was at it. The criminal told Blake on a few things, but right now he needed the cowboy to know just about more than the kitty-cat. But first things first-

"Move!" The ginger shouted, pushing Jaune aside to shoot the White Fang lieutenant. He needed to make sure the kid stayed alive to get him out of this mess.

The shot he fired wasn't enough to kill the walking muscle though since he was still getting up with chainsaw in hand. Getting up from the floor, Roman dusted himself off and took his hat off for this.

"Traitor." The lieutenant snarled, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"Moi?" The ginger pointed to himself. "That can't be. For me to be a traitor to anything, I'd need to swear allegiance. And last I check-"

BAM!

Roman fired another shot that got the man square in the face. "I made no commitments."

The mask flew off to show the angry eyes of the high-ranking White Fang official glaring at him. Revving up his chainsaw, he charged Roman and swung his weapon to shred the man's head off. The criminal wasn't just going to take it as he shifted out of the way and brought his cane up to fire another shot at the angry faunus' foot.

All the while, Jaune was watching the fight seeing how one sided it was turning. Now that he thought it over, maybe the grunts weren't so well trained if they were horrible at shooting their automatic rifles. Looking back to the fight, he blinked seeing Roman under the foot of the lieutenant with the man holding the chainsaw over his head ready to finish Roman off. Dashing to save him, Jaune got his two blades ready.

"Raah!" The blonde shouted with power, hitting the back of the faunus' head with the pommel of his tanto to knock him out.

It worked great since Roman was able to get up from the foot under him. With the lieutenant now off balance and woozy, he fell backwards and landed on his still spinning weapon. Jaune tried to stop it from happening, but he was too slow and could only watch in horror as the faunus screamed in pain from being shredded from his spine inward. Blood flew with drops splashing on Jaune as he couldn't turn away. As the screaming died, so did the roars of the chainsaw.

"No!" The blonde whispered, feeling cold and involved in this murder. Feeling a pat on his shoulder, Roman was looking down at him with a smirk.

 **Up top with the others**

The Grimm numbers were decreasing once Ironwood's army showed up along with team CFVY. Team RWBY and (J)NPR sighed in relief when back up arrived, but some of them went back into full guard when two people arrived – Emerals and Mercury. Blake and Yang along with Ren and Nora were on high alert as they watched the suspicious partners help aid in killing Grimm. Watching them go, the four quickly took note of their weapons and how they moved. The two didn't know they were being suspected, so they had to tread carefully and not show any signs that they knew something.

"Hey guys!" Ruby greeted the two, dashing off to Emerald after the Grimm around them were killed.

"Hey Ruby." The green haired girl smiled with teeth flashing. Blake narrowed her eyes seeing the slightest strain in her lip twitching like she didn't want to talk to her leader. "Crazy happenings, right?"

"Yeah." The little girl rubbed the back of her head. "But it's kinda a normal thing for us."

"I guess your team sure gets in a lot of trouble." The green haired girl said smoothly, never putting her smile away. "You should really be careful on who you mess with."

"We're working on it." Ruby giggled, glancing back to her other friends. "Oh! Let me introduce you to my team and other friends."

Not giving Emerald time to say anything else, Ruby grabbed her arm and pulled her along to stand in front of the others. It took the four who knew who she really was to act as unsuspecting as possible.

"This is my older sister Yang and her partner Blake." Ruby started off for her team, pointing them out. "And this is my BFF, Weiss."

"No." Weiss shook her head, denying any title Ruby gave her.

"Yes." The little reaper rolled her eyes in turn, denying the denial.

"Pyrrha Nikos." Emerald looked to the redhead champion, getting a small nod in turn. "I really enjoyed the beating you gave my partner. Wished he didn't wimp out though."

"I'm sorry?" Pyrrha said, not knowing how to respond to that.

"It's fine." She lamented before turning to Ren and Nora. "And you must be her team."

"Ren." The ninja introduced himself with a short nod. Not trusting Nora to contain herself, he introduced his partner for her. "And this is Nora."

"You guys must be the best being lead by _the_ Pyrrha Nikos." Emerald complimented them. "But aren't you guys a member short?"

' _Crap.'_ Ren cursed in his head, knowing what the girl was doing. She was fishing for information on them. Seeing Pyrrha about to correct the green haired girl, he thought fast. "Now that you mention it, where is Jaune?"

"You're right!" Pyrrha gasped, looking around to find her partner. "Jaune? Where are you?"

Like a fiddle played easily, Pyrrha took the bait as she forgot about correcting Emerald. Ren and the others couldn't do much yet, but this was a sign they still knew little about all of them. And that was an opportunity to try and mislead them. Looks like his real leader's habit rubbed off on him.

"Let's help her look." Nora pulled team RWBY along with Ren, getting them away from the two.

On their search for their blonde knight, they ran into Sun and Neptune who were looking down the hole Jaune was in. Torchwick was being held by Atlas bots next to the two boys while waiting for a carrier.

"Dude." Sun whispered, not believing what he was seeing. When the others got to him, Pyrrha gasped at what she saw.

Jaune was crouched over a dead faunus still like a statue. Jumping down, she placed her hands on his shoulders and felt him trembling. Pulling him away from the corpse and out of the hole, he was void of any emotion.

"It's okay Jaune." She whispered into his ear, trying to snap him out of his shock. "It wasn't your fault."

"That's the same faunus I fought." Weiss whispered to Blake, who nodded remembering the man. The tattoos on the arms gave him away.

"So this is the other member." Emerald stated, walking up to them. "He looks a little shook up."

"Not now, please." Pyrrha told her in a stern tone, shocking the girl.

"O-oh." The thief in hiding said, looking elsewhere and spotted Roman being held. "Merc, let's go help those guys escort Torchwick away."

As the two left, Ren continued to keep a close eye on them but was still concerned for his leader's state. Out of all their friends, he couldn't believe it was Jaune who had gotten his first kill. Feeling a tug on his arm, the ninja saw Nora looking up at him with worry in her eyes.

"Go to him." He whispered, nodding his head in the blonde's direction. Watching her go, he saw Goodwitch along with the other teachers walking towards them.

"Team JNPR." Glynda nodded to them, then paused seeing Jaune in a catatonic state. "What is wrong with Mr. Arc?"

"I…" Pyrrha tried to start, but couldn't form the words. How could she say that Jaune had killed a living being? Grimm were one thing, but a bleeding living person?

Seeing them turn to the hole they got the blonde out of, Glynda walked in to see what was the cause. Her eyes widened slightly at seeing the corpse and connected the dots. "Did he…?"

It was a stupid question to ask on her account since there was blood splashed on his face. Walking over to Oobleck and Port, she pulled them away to have a conversation with them. The others watched as the staff's talk seemed to be heating up.

"In all my years teaching, I've never had a first year go through this." Peter whispered, all joy in his tone gone. "Usually they have their first kills by their third or fourth years, but never this early. By my tales of slaughtering Grimm, it slowly goes into the murder of villains and bandits by their second year. And by then, they've been desensitized to it. "

"I'll have him come by for counseling." Oobleck said in a somber tone. "I have my suspicions Ms. Rose along with Ms. Nikos will need counseling as well."

"Please do so." Glynda said with concern in her tone while glancing back to the first years looking so glum. "I'd hate to see such promise go to waste – especially when he's improved so much."

Seeing the bubbly ginger try to cheer her leader up, she let a small smile grace her lips with how much support the young Arc had. On this, she could admit to her boss that letting him in wasn't a mistake and that she was wrong.

 **With Emerald and Mercury**

"Let's move it convict." Mercury shoved the master criminal forward. "You're going away for a real long time."

"Yeah, yeah. Shove it up your ass fairy." Roman grumbled, not trying to escape.

"Taken down by a bunch of girls and their dumb dog." Emerald laughed, teasing him more. The smirk on her face left as she got serious. "So what's the story with the blonde? You see how strong he was?"

"Why?" He huffed with a smirk. "Feeling threatened by how he killed?"

That got him an eye roll from the thief.

"Please. Those grunts are damn useless and drop easier than flies." She said, crossing her arms. "But right now, he's on the team lead by Nikos. Last I remember you were the one to say he'd be a threat."

"Did I?" Roman asked, playing dumb and glancing to the blonde. "From the looks of things, he doesn't seem that threatening. And look at how Ms. Leader is coddling him. Aww."

That earned him a smack in the back of the head from Mercury. "Hey! Watch the hair."

Any chance of speaking to him was lost to the two once he was placed in the carrier. No matter; they'd just work their way into the circle of friends. By how happy and sweet they were, it would be disgustingly easy. It's not like they had an idea of who they were. For now though, it was best to report back to Cinder on the proceedings.

 **Back at Beacon**

The ride to Beacon was quiet as the group tried to get over what had happened. Blake was quiet, wondering if any of her past actions in the Fang had caused any death to anyone. From a report some police had given Glynda, a few civilians were injured while a few were unlucky by the breach. The feeling in her gut was made even worse when she found out that some of them had died from the train crashing into the city.

"Come along, Jaune." Oobleck guided the blonde to the restroom. There was still blood on the boy's face and it wouldn't do for him to be walking around as such.

As the blonde walked into the bathroom and the sound of a sink running was heard with splashes, Oobleck sighed as he tried to think how to go about his talk. How was it to tell a teenager on the brink of being an adult that him taking a life was going to be a normal occurrence once he got out of Beacon's walls? The only first year he could remember getting through it was a certain ravenette, and she wasn't exactly on his list of mentally stable – more like check marked to 'In the care of: place name here.' He hoped the young lad wouldn't turn into her.

"Jaune, are you almost done?" He called into the bathroom, feeling like he was taking too long. Walking in to check on him, he nearly panicked seeing the blonde with his head dunked into the flooding sink. "JAUNE!"

Running and pulling him away harshly that they fell to the floor, the boy gasped for air while rubbing his face constantly. The panic the teacher felt was soon overrun with anger at what his student was attempting to pull. "What were you thinking?!"

"It won't come off." The boy gasped, rubbing his hands as if there was still something on them.

Looking at his hands, the doctor frowned as he saw hands completely clean of any dirt and grime. Taking the boy's hands and separating them, he felt the blond struggle.

"Jaune. Your hands are clean." He whispered, knowing that wasn't the case with him. Lifting the boy off the floor, he patted his shoulders to try and ease him. "That's enough now. To my office."

Nodding, the knight and the doctor walked in silence until they reached the older man's door. Stepping in, Jaune saw two recliners facing each other with one of them closer to a coffee table.

"Come, sit." The green haired man invited him, taking a seat himself. Once his student had done so, the doctor picked up a cup and filled it with coffee. "Have a drink."

"I'm not a coffee drinker." He mumbled, not feeling like consuming anything for a long time.

"I implore you." Oobleck urged him, knowing his student would need it. "You'll find coffee is a good anti-depressant and is a good pick me upper."

Feeling like nothing would happen until he did, Jaune took a sip from his drink and got a smile from the teacher in return.

"Good. Now Jaune." He leaned forward. "Tell me what happened."

 **RWBY dorm**

Weiss was pacing the floors of her dorm in circles trying to wrap her head around what had happened. The rest of team JNPR was with them where a broken Pyrrha was being comforted by her two teammates and Ruby. And to make things worse, Blake and Yang put the bomb on them about Mercury and Emerald.

This wasn't her plan on entering Beacon at all. She was supposed to be the top of the class with an excellent partner who was her equal. She was supposed to be popular, a role model, the envy of the whole school with a super hot boyfriend that could sweep her off her feet while killing a Nevermore with just a glare. …Okay so the last one was asking a bit _too_ much, but could she have a break? Her partner is a girl two years younger than her, the boy she was pining after was next to useless and was only good for flashing a badge, and her other teammates drag her into dangerous situations involving criminals and terrorists!

If Winter got hold of this… oh who was she kidding? Atlas was involved in saving Vale; of course this would get back to her. And her father. She could imagine the many times he'd be calling. Maybe she could change her scroll number and find a way of switching to an independent account. No, that wouldn't do. She'd still need the consent of the original owner of the account to make the transfer – her father.

"Could you stop pacing already?" Yang grumbled, getting tired of hearing Weiss' heels clip the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The heiress said sarcastically. "I'm just trying to get used to the fact that we're being targeted!"

"Here we go." The blonde rolled her eyes, knowing she was going to rant. Normally she'd be against it, but with what happened she felt benevolent enough for the snowflake to get it all out.

"Have I somehow done something in my life to earn this… this… I can't even think of a proper word for this situation!" Weiss pulled on her ponytail. "I had it all planned the moment I left Atlas to study here. Even when it was all destroyed before my very eyes, I tried to accept it and go along with what was given like any professional huntress would do."

Blake and Yang shared a look as she said that. Was she forgetting how she complained and acted out to not being the leader? Or how about the time she chased the cat faunus away? Either way, the heiress was still ranting, and it would be rude to interrupt.

"But this!" Weiss continued with a low growl at the end. "This is something that takes it all."

Seeing her breathing heavily and not continuing, Yang thought it was okay to speak.

"Are you okay now?" She asked, hoping there wasn't a second rant aimed at her. She could only be so benevolent.

"No, no I'm not." Weiss said in a softer, but sadder tone. Looking to the brawler, there was worry and deep concern in Weiss' eyes. "Yang, I'm worried for all of us. Ruby's been near those people so many times on her own it's amazing she wasn't taken out. Pyrrha's been scoped out by one of them. The White Fang are here and are plotting against humanity and the peace we have at the moment. …And I'm afraid we might lose one of our friends due to a mental breakdown."

"Where is this coming from?" Blake asked, not used to seeing the heiress show fear like this.

"This-" She motioned to her own composure. "Is coming from seeing death and nearly experiencing it. Looking back over our past battles, I see how sloppy I was and overconfident in myself that I forgot my mortality like some child thinking this a fairytale! I nearly died by that chainsaw wielder Jaune ki… killed. Oh god."

Pyrrha flinched at the mention of what her leader had done.

The very thought of dying in the train got to her as she imagined the many ways she could have died. What if her aura hadn't held out? Her head would have been mush in that crashed train. What if she hadn't dodged that chainsaw? The thing would have shredded her in half. And the train-crash too. What if she hadn't had enough ice dust to protect them from the impact? She and her team would have been dead.

"No more." She shook her head, clutching her gut to stop the nausea. Seeing them all now staring at her, she steeled herself despite how sick she was feeling. "We can't keep doing this to ourselves. If we keep running off trying to risk our lives like this, then sooner or later we'll run into someone that'll succeed in taking it."

"But we're already being targeted." The cat faunus reminded her while not disagreeing with her opinion. "Looking it over, it was obvious now they were trying to learn more about us. We've poked too many times to be ignored now."

"I'm not saying to do nothing." Weiss shook her head. "I'm just saying to not get involved in this any deeper. Today was a sign that we've reached something way above what we can handle. Some of us nearly died, and one of had to kill."

"Just stop." Pyrrha whispered, not wanting to remember the image while Ruby hugged her tight.

"So what do we do?" Yang asked, seeing as her sister wasn't into talking at the moment.

"We train." Ren stood up to stand next to Weiss. This was the first any of them saw the sharp look in his eyes and the steel in his voice. "I agree with Weiss to not go any further. But that won't stop the ones who are targeting us – so we train. We reach our limits and try to surpass them. Any weakness we feel we have, we remove it. By the time our enemies try to strike, we'll be ready for them."

Nora nodded, feeling some of the fire in her come back to life. Gripping Pyrrha's shoulder, she hoisted her up to stand with her and pulled Ruby along despite how broken they looked. Blake and Yang shared a glance before standing up in agreement with the idea.

"We still have to be careful around those two and their other teammate." Blake reminded them. "There's a high chance they don't know we're on to them so if approached, act natural but don't try to give them any window to come closer."

"Ruby?" Yang looked to her baby sister, who was looking so down.

"Huh? Yeah, got it." The little reaper said unenthused. The whole day got to her along with the fact she was used as the door to her friends. Their enemies saw her as the weak link and it was bringing a lot of negative emotions in her.

Before she could go deeper into it, there was a knock on the door. Volunteering to see who it was, she hoped it was that two-bit faker so she could brush her fake friendship away. That thought quickly went away when she saw it was her fellow leader.

"Sun!" She perked up, happy to see a real friend.

"Sup guys." He waved, walking in with no one else. "Man, today got dark fast."

"Please don't remind us." Weiss told him, wishing to move on.

"Yeah, sorry." The monkey faunus apologized, feeling insensitive just then. Turning to Pyrrha, he asked her a question. "How's he doing by the way?"

"We don't know." The redhead replied, squeezing her hands. "Doctor Oobleck is currently having a talk with him now, and we're not sure when he'll be back."

"He'll bounce back." The blonde faunus said surely. "Guys like him don't stay down for long."

"Thank you." Pyrrha really needed to hear someone say it just to ease her worries. The only thing that would make things better was her partner walking in saying he was okay.

"Not to sound rude, but what are you here for?" Weiss asked him, taking a seat near the mirror.

"Right!" Sun snapped out of it, remembering why he came. Standing up, he fished his pocket out for his badge. "I'm really sorry about this guys, but VPD's called you in."

This was now officially the worst day for teams RWBY and JNPR. Even Sun wasn't looking too happy on what he was doing.

 **END**

 **AN: Murphy's law where anything that can happen will happen. One thing I didn't get in the show is how much destruction was caused, but no words on death or fatal injuries. I'll be honest, I got a bit of inspiration on Weiss' ranting from God Emperor Penguin's take on Vol. 2. No way there weren't any casualties or gore. Plus, I doubt anyone still green would fair well on their first death. Kakashi didn't hold up on his, and he's supposed to be some badass prodigy.**

 **So currently working on something else. Made a DA and tumblr account, learnt some 3D lighting techniques, finished a Pokemon Sun nuzlocke with one death, burnt some tummy fat, and got on Dean's Lister. And currently waiting for March 11 (you guys know why).**


	15. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by Monty Oum.**

 **AN: Not much to say here.**

 **Chapter 14:** E-scapegoats

"Team RWBY, you are under arrest for being involved in what Vale has named The Breach. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you do not have one the court shall provide you with one. Do you understand the rights that have been given to you?" Sun finished going through protocol.

"We have." Weiss muttered, not liking what was going on. Today really just wasn't their day.

The heiress knew that was a load of bull. They were the scapegoats since the grunts were either dead or missing, and Roman was being interrogated by Ironwood in a secure location.

"I'm really sorry about this." The monkey faunus said once more wit a hurt frown before turning to team JNPR. "Team JNPR you are under arrest for the interference of VPD investigation and crowd control. Anything you say ca-"

"We get it." Nora cut him off, not needing to hear their rights.

As the group walked out, they were met with Neptune standing between the same officers that searched their rooms days ago. Glancing at Weiss, the blue haired teen wanted to say something but was shunned with a huff and a flick from her ponytail. He and Sun didn't _want_ to do this, but they were still on the clock in shadowing detectives. It was just their luck the detectives happened to be officers bringing the two teams in – but it wouldn't matter to the heiress either way.

"No running away from this." One of the officers muttered, motioning for them to walk along. "Let's go people, we're burning daylight."

Students peeked from their doors to see what was going on. A few even took pictures from their scrolls and were whispering amongst themselves of the possible reasons. It was no doubt rumors would be spreading of them.

"Wasn't there one more of them?" The younger officer asked, getting a shrug from the older one.

"Some reports say he's in therapy for killing a guy." The older officer replied under his breath, not paying attention to what was happening behind them. "Told you Hunters aren't trustworthy. It's easy for these super-powered freaks to throw their weight around and kill. The guy must be boasting of his latest kill."

It took the three members of RWBY to hold back Yang from punching the guy in the back of the head with Nora of all people grasping Ren's arm from lashing out. Looking to the ninja, Pyrrha would forever remember the sheer anger in those magenta orbs and how they spoke of pain.

"That's our friend you guys are talking about." Sun defended his fellow blonde. As the cops turned to face him, they saw teams RWBY and JNPR along with Sun and Neptune glaring at them.

"Good for you then." The officer sniffed, not sensing the danger. "Maybe you can use those super senses of yours to find said friend. You know, sniff him out."

Just as Sun was about to raise a hand, Neptune quickly gripped it to stop him from doing something stupid. Shaking his head and motioning for him to stand with the others, he took the stand.

"Good job reigning your pet in." The younger one smirked, eyeing Neptune like a champion. "Good to see you know how to control your animal."

"He's my partner." The intellectual glared at the man. "And I don't like it when people call him an animal."

From the moment the two friends got assigned to the two officers, the two boys had been ridiculed and talked down on by the men in charge of teaching them. Even when the breach happened, the two officers told them to go save the day while the cowered in a building far from the action. They tried to brush it off and shoulder it until the mission was done, but they were losing their patience.

"What's going on here?" A voice asked out, saving the two officers from an impending beating. Turning to the speaker, they saw it was Jaune looking at them with a confused stare. "Guys, what's happening?"

"Jaune, we-" Before Pyrrha could tell him what was going to happen to them, the older officer stood in front of her and looked to the leader of JNPR with a winning smirk.

"Hey there killer." He greeted Jaune. "You're just in time to join your friends in a trip down town."

"What? Why?!" Really, Jaune could not make any sense of what the guy was talking about. He understood they were being brought in, but the reason eluded him.

Getting shoved to stand with his friends, Jaune was informed of what was happening by Weiss. This was an outrage to them all, and it was something they weren't going to take lying down. Just as they had exited the dorms, there were a bunch of reporters waiting outside wanting to get the biggest scoop for their company.

"Ms. Schnee, is it true you were involved in causing the breach?"

"Ms. Nikos, rumor has it you're involved in a romantic relationship with one of the teachers."

"Team RWBY! Some people are stating you caused the breach so you could act like heroes to save the city. Are they true?"

"The blonde guy. There were sightings of you and Pyrrha Nikos entering a hotel together. What happened?"

Walking past the reporters and into the bullheads, the group was now high strung from all the questions asked. Weiss and Pyrrha weren't handling it well since their names were possibly going to be tarnished into the mud. Of course the truth would prevail, but it wouldn't stop sensationalists from trying to earn money from lies and libel.

 **VPD**

After a ride to the police department, teams RWBY and JNPR were shoved in cells for holding. Some of them wanted to fight back, but after a glance from their leaders they held back. Pyrrha along with Ruby and Nora were locked in one cell together with Jaune, Ren, and Blake in another.

"Lock 'em up, rookies." The older officer ordered Sun and Neptune, tossing them the keys after putting Yang and Weiss in their own cells.

Glancing at each other, the two bros nodded in understanding. Tossing the key back in the copper's face, they opened the cell their friends were staying in and shut it after they walked in to join them.

"What're you two doing?" The younger one asked, not wanting any time for this.

"It should be obvious." Neptune said defiantly while crossing his arms. Glancing at Weiss, he gave her a small smile that she returned in kind.

"You wanna lock them up for saving the town, then luck us up too." Sun jabbed a thumb at his chest. "Cause we were there helping while you two bozos were hiding behind a dumpster."

"You wanna rot with them, fine!" The older cop shouted, locking them in with teams RWBY and JNPR. "All you hunters can rot in jail for all I care!"

"Suck a dick, pigs!" The monkey faunus shouted in return, shouting other stuff Pyrrha had to cover Ruby's ears for. After the cops stomped off, he turned around to see Yang and Weiss staring at him with a proud smile. Or in Weiss' case, an approving smirk.

"What?" He huffed, feeling embarrassed from the attention. "You guys are my pals. I'm not turning my back on any of you."

"Come here you big lug." Yang pulled the monkey faunus in for a noogie. It was worth it for him with how his head was under her left breast – and it was magical.

"So are we cool?" Neptune asked Weiss, getting an eye roll in return.

"Yes, we are _cool._ "She replied, pulling him down to give him a small peck on the cheek. "That was brave of you to stand with us."

"Yeah, well those guys weren't the best to hang around with." There was a motion of agreement from all of them.

 **With Blake and the others**

"Are you okay Jaune?" Blake asked the knight who was being quiet. Even during their ride, the blonde hadn't said a single word or made any sound – and it worried them.

"I'm just really tired guys." He said in a nearly small whisper, hunching over to rest his head in his hands. "Today's been something."

Blake wasn't sure she could believe him. It's not that she didn't trust him, but more of she was afraid to ignore it. She ignored a friend killing while she was in the White Fang, and that didn't turn out well. Her friend changed for the worse and that one kill piled up into many more. She didn't want Jaune to turn into that same friend.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm willing to listen." The cat faunus offered, hoping just giving some support would keep him from straying down the wrong path.

"Thanks Blake." He replied, not sounding any better.

Turning to Ren, Blake saw the ninja eyeing his leader with a worried look. The ninja was adept at reading aura, and right now his leader's was broken. Walking over to him, he could feel some sort of turmoil just from the air around him. Kneeling at his feet, Ren could hear the haggard breathing and immediately knew what his friend needed.

"Jaune." He called to his leader, not getting any response in return. "Jaune. Look at me."

Still not getting a response, Ren pushed his leader gently to have their eyes meet. Finally getting Jaune to look at him, Ren gave an understanding smile and said exactly what Jaune needed. "It's okay to let it out. We're here for you."

That was all the blonde needed as he quickly pulled Ren in for a hug and cried the tears he tried to fight back. It wasn't the cry of a scared boy who got in trouble, but of a broken man who was filled with regret and shame. His sobs and wails echoed through the cells and caused a chain reaction to his close friends who heard and sympathized.

"It's okay." Ren whispered into his leader's ear. "No one blames you."

Blake couldn't take any more just watching. Walking over, she joined in giving the knight a hug hoping to it would help him. Soon though, she too felt her eyes leak tears as she held on to him. By the time the cops came to pick them up, they were all done crying.

 **VPD Chief's Office**

Ozpin was never one to show angry so easily. But when he found out his students were put into custody without his knowledge, locked up in cells to be put on trial, and were basically used as scapegoats to show Vale still gave justice; he had let it known that lines were crossed. Currently standing in front of the police chief's desk with Glynda behind with a fierce glare of her own, there was little to no wonder that the man behind the desk wasn't shitting bricks by now.

"Your men seem to be crossing a line a lot lately." The headmaster of Beacon narrowed his eyes to the man in the seat.

"I-I know you are furious Ozpin, but you must understand." The chief tried to explain. "The people are hurt. They demand someone to blame for this and look to me for a target."

"So you blame my students and turn them into the scapegoat." He said in turn, getting the man to shrivel in his seat.

"I did no such thing." The man stood up. "Civilians were witness to the four girls emerging with the train and the other team so happened to appear just in time to help them. Looking over their history, they are the same students who were in the expressway battle with that giant robot! Of course people would point fingers at them. It was soon out of my control!"

"Funny." Ozpin huffed, turning away to the exit. "I thought the title chief meant to be in charge and in control. I guess the meaning's changed. If you excuse me, I have students to reclaim."

"Even if you do take them out, it won't change anything!" The chief argued as Ozpin was walking out with Glynda. "They'll still be blamed for everything!"

As the door closed to the office, Glynda quickly caught up with her boss who was trying to match his quick pace.

"I hate to agree with him, but you know he's correct." The disciplinarian started once they were headed to the cells. "The two teams have become too known with their involvements to be ignored. Taking them out will just put the civilians in an uproar and think we are showing favoritism."

"Yes, I have taken that into account." The headmaster said, not stopping in his pace. "Which is why I've made my own plans to appease the masses."

"What have you planned?" She asked, not being in the loop.

"The civilians want to turn them into scapegoats. There is no changing that." He started, opening the last door that lead to their students' cells. "But I plan to turn them into something better."

Looking at the student behind bars, Glynda quickly opened the doors for them with just a wave of her crop. Whatever Ozpin had planned, she hoped it would be for the better. It was bad enough Ironwood took control from them.

"Come now children." The headmaster called to them as they were slowly walking out. "We shouldn't keep the public waiting."

"Headmaster, what's going on?" Weiss asked, not knowing what was happening to them. "Are we free to go?"

"Unfortunately, no." He answered, walking to them with scroll in hand. "I cannot stop you from being the blame for this day. I can however, help alter this situation to turn things better in your favor. All I need is your full cooperation."

Nothing would be easy for them, but this was their only chance from getting out of custody. Seeing them share a glance of agreement, Ozpin smirked as things had gone smoothly for him. "Excellent. Now I just need the leaders to listen closely to my instructions."

While this had gone on, Glynda watched with a critical eye and an open ear of what Ozpin was planning. Although the man was an enigma in his ways, he has never stirred her or any of the staff in the wrong direction. Hearing it all now, she couldn't stop the smirk of how brilliant his idea sounded.

"Are we all clear on this?" He asked the two leaders, who nodded in return. "Once that is over, we can all go back to Beacon where you may collect your items for your leave."

"Thank you headmaster." Weiss said with a curtsey. The others had thanked him as well on their way to the entrance.

"Glynda, see if we can get a podium and a microphone outside." He didn't need to say any more as she was following the teams out to get said items.

The public wanted to paint his students as scapegoats - let them try. At the end of the day, it was his very students that combated the Grimm and saved those who were still living. For now, he'd let them have their false illusions – it wouldn't last long. He was not sending his students out to become the sacrificial lambs to the masses, but the heroes the world needed to support and follow.

 **Front of VPD**

Getting the items and setting them up was easy with Glynda around. With just a swish of her crop, things were put in place for the students to plug in the sound systems. The reporters that were at Beacon followed them to the police department and were currently snapping photos of the teams as they stood in front of the podium. For now though, Gylnda and Ozpin were searching around for the one reporter they knew held more credibility and face amongst the people of Vale – And there she was pushing her way to the front with camera man in tow, Lisa Lavender.

"I am Lisa Lavender reporting live from the front of the Vale Police Department where the two teams rumored to be responsible for the train wreck are currently outside." The purple haired reporter announced to the live feed airing. "As you can see, I am not the only one here as civilians and other news casters are witness to today."

As trusted, Lisa remained neutral to her report. Unlike the other medias that looked for something to sensationalize, she was firm and true in her words. The perfect person for the teams to talk to.

Stepping forward, Ruby and Jaune gestured for the other to go first in talking and ended with Ruby going first.

"Tes- _fwooooooom!_ " Everyone flinched from the bad feed back after Ruby tried to pull the mic closer to her. Fixing it back into place, she tried once more and found it working properly. "Sorry about that."

"Um… Hi, everyone." She greeted awkwardly, trying to be herself as Ozpin instructed. "My name is Ruby Rose and I'm the leader of team RWBY. Hehe. I know, it's kind of confusing sometimes. Uh, I know some of you are angry about the train crashing into Vale and we're sorry about that. My team and I were trying to stop it when we found out about the bombs it was carrying, but we were too late. Turns out the bombs were being used to pull Grimm into the tunnels."

"Get off the stage!" A civilian shouted, getting a few more people to join him.

"I'm sorry we failed you guys." She continued despite the people shouting against her. "A lot of people got hurt and we couldn't stop that from happening. Some might think it a huge success, but it's still a failure on our parts. You're up Jaune."

Stepping down, there were a few murmurs from the audience and a few snapshots from reporters. Taking a gulp, the blonde knight looked over the people staring at him and felt his knees buckle. Steeling his gut, he cleared his throat to start talking.

"Hello. My name's Jaune Arc of team JNPR." He introduced himself and motioned to his team. "We were the team that was helping team RWBY in pushing the Grimm back."

"Why are you guys up there?" A woman shouted. "You didn't cause the crash. Your team with Pyrrha Nikos were saving us!"

A few murmured in agreement, mostly because some of them were fans and supporters of Pyrrha.

"That's the same thing Ruby's team was doing." He shot back, going off tangent a bit. "Either way, we couldn't save everyone just like them."

Said woman looked down with a few of the crowd's faces softening. Turning back to his team and team RWBY, they nodded for him to continue.

"That's why," he scanned over the crowd. "We will be shipped out of Beacon for the remainder of the term."

There was an uproar as people murmured amongst themselves not knowing how to react. Some of them got more than what they wanted after what Jaune said. Seeing him step back, they quieted down a bit once Ozpin took the stage.

"Please settle down." He told the masses, clicking his cane to get a few to stop talking. "As headmaster I cannot ignore what has happened today. This is not only a punishment, but also a learning task. By the time the tournament has arrived, they shall be back to compete and show us their improvement for the better. That is all."

"Come along now." Ozpin turned to his students. "It's time to start packing."

As the teams followed the headmaster and Glynda to their transport, a few reporters tried to follow but they ignored them. Trying to get into the bullhead was impossible with how the more pushy ones blocked them off until they got an interview.

"Excuse me!" Lisa Lavender pushed past one of the reporters to get closer to the students. Fixing herself, she was able to make it to Yang who turned to her. "Miss. What is the reason behind your teams being shipped away?"

"To become better protectors." The busty blonde answered into the mic, getting a few reporters to clamor to Lisa's side. "Today was proof we weren't ready to protect the people. Vale doesn't need heroes, but it needs hunters and huntresses who can protect it. We want to be their protectors."

"Thank you, Miss…?" Lisa prompted for her name.

"Yang. Yang Xiao Long." Yang nodded, turning back to her team.

"There you have it folks." Lisa turned to her camera. "You heard it here live in Vale. The two teams from Beacon holding the famous Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos will be shipped out of Beacon to become Vale's protectors. This has been Lisa Lavender reporting nothing but the truth."

Finally getting the reporters to move from the bullhead via a Glynda glare, the two teams plus their two friends and the teachers were off. Things had gone as Ozpin hoped with Yang's statement going to the right person. Not only that, but judging by the crowd, they had won a huge majority of them over. Now all he needed to do was inform a certain person of a few guests staying over.

 **Beacon**

 **Nighttime**

Weiss sighed as she looked at their room once more after they finished packing. She knew it wasn't going to be long, but the place seemed a lot bigger now that most of her things were outside. Even the walls didn't look the same without the posters hanging there. At least the bunk beds were staying.

"You guys ready?" Ren's voice asked them as team JNPR exited their room with bags and cases.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Yang said glumly, hoisting her bag while Ruby held onto Zwei. "I just wish we knew where we were going."

Nodding in agreement, the group walked the halls feeling like it was the last time they'd be seeing it. Wherever they were going, at least they'd still have each other.

Nearing the entrance, the teams heard footsteps behind them running toward them. Turning around, they saw Velvet rushing up to them.

"Wait!" She gasped, catching her breath to compose herself. "You guys weren't leaving without saying goodbye, were you?"

"It's not a goodbye, Velvet." Ruby tried to hold back some tears. "We're just not going to be here for now."

"We'll be back for the tournament too." Jaune added, giving a shaky grin.

The tension between the two leaders and the rabbit soon broke as they converged in a group hug with some tears. After assuring her they'd try to call her whenever they could and saying how much they'd miss each other, they broke apart. Walking out, Velvet still followed wanting to see them off safely. On the way, they met Sun and Neptune waiting by their transport.

The bullhead they were riding on was twice as big as the regular ones to support the two teams and their luggage. The pilot was instructed on where to send the teams and was also told not to disclose the whereabouts to anyone.

"I got those." Sun picked up some of the girls' luggage with Neptune helping Ren and Jaune pack them in. It wasn't a surprise that Weiss was the one who took up most of the space.

"So I guess we'll be seeing you guys later." The monkey faunus turned to them, his tail hanging sadly to show how he felt. "Kind of a bummer we never got to hang out enough."

"We'll try to do that more when we get back." Jaune assured him. Holding his fist out for a bump, he smiled as he got one on return.

The moment was soon broken once Neptune got in between the two to grab them into a group hug. He was sniffling while holding the two blondes close to his chest. "I'm gonna miss you guys."

After finally being released from the blue haired teen, the teams walked into the bullhead and strapped themselves in for the long ride. Yang didn't have to worry about Jaune vomiting since he brought gum with him to help with his motion sickness. Peeking her head out, Ruby waved back to the three friends watching them fly off while still waving. By the time they were just specks in her vision, she ducked back in to see her friends completely quiet.

Blake was reading to pass the time, but she must have been getting a headache from how much she was sweating. Yang and Nora kept fidgeting around trying to get comfy. Jaune and Weiss were looking out into the horizon where they were looking at the stars. Ren was taking the chance to get some sleep, and Pyrrha was staring into space while sitting next to her partner. Sitting next to her partner, the little leader sighed as she tried to get some shuteye. Hopefully, the nightmares wouldn't be coming back.

 _ **Ruby's dream**_

" _Hello?" Ruby's voice echoed as she was running down the ruined streets of Vale. "Hello~?"_

 _Hearing sobbing, Ruby followed the sounds to an alley where a woman was hunched over. Walking closer, she was a bit weary since the woman's back was turned to her._

" _Are you okay?" The girl asked, getting the woman to stop crying._

 _Getting up slowly, the woman was still hunched over and turned around slowly. Her clothes were bloody and her hair was a complete mess. Feeling something wrong, Ruby tried to step back but felt her feet wouldn't move. Looking down she saw hands holding her legs from running away. As the woman got closer to her she lifted her head to show bloodshot eyes and gray face. But what she held in her hands made Ruby's blood run cold._

" _Why couldn't you save us?!" The woman cried while shoving a dead baby into Ruby's face._

" _Save us, Ruby!"_

" _Ruby!"_

" _Ruby!"_

 _ **End dream**_

"Ruby." Jaune shook Ruby while whispering her name. Everyone else was in deep sleep, but he was the only one awake who saw her quivering in her sleep. Shaking her roughly, the little reaper woke with a gasp. "A nightmare?"

"Yeah." She almost sobbed, feeling a tight feeling in her chest.

Getting out of her seat, she clung onto the blonde knight to bury her head into his chest. He didn't push her away as he felt hot tears drench his shirt and the sounds of muffled crying. Wrapping his arms around her, he ran his hand through her hair and back to soothe her.

After minutes, he felt her hold on him soften. Letting go, he saw his fellow leader's face was puffy and red with her nose having some drops running down. Grabbing the under part of his shirt, he cleaned off the excess drops running down.

"Sometimes crying helps, doesn't it." He said, getting a nod in return. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Feeling like she had nothing to lose by sharing, Ruby told of her nightmares she had been having. She shared of the guilt of not being able to save everyone from dying and how she felt part of it was her fault. By the time she was done sharing, she felt part of the weight in her chest had left her.

"Let's try to get some rest." He advised her, rubbing her head. "We still don't know where we'll be landing so best to be rested."

Nodding, she tried to close her eyes but felt uncomfortable doing so. Looking to Jaune who was using the window as a support to lean on, she quietly moved over to get near him.

"Jaune?" She whispered, hoping he would be okay with what she was about to ask him as he opened his eyes. "Do you think I can sleep next to you?"

"I'm okay with it, but Pyrrha will need to switch seats." The blonde whispered back, nudging to his partner.

"She won't have to." Ruby said, carefully positioning herself to be sitting on his lap while using his chest as a pillow. "See?"

He wanted to say something about their position, but seeing how content she looked compared to before squashed whatever awkward feeling he felt. Besides, this was Ruby his friend. She wasn't comfortable sleeping after having a nightmare so she needed help. Who was he to turn her down?

Shifting his legs to get comfortable, he was glad the bullhead they were in had good air conditioning otherwise it would have been really uncomfortable for the two leaders. And if he were to be honest, Ruby sleeping on top of him was a bit of help to him too. The sounds of the engine and turbines were almost close to one of a chainsaw whenever he'd close his eyes.

 **Morning**

Blake woke up to the sounds of giggling from her partner along with the sounds of a scroll snapshot. Cracking an eye open, she saw her partner standing across from her while looking to where Jaune was sitting.

"Yang, what are you doing?" She grumbled, feeling it was too early for the blonde's antics. The cat faunus had a feeling her neck was stiff too, so she wasn't in the best of moods.

The brawler didn't say anything as she just pointed in Jaune's direction.

Turning to the knight, the cat faunus' eyes nearly bugged out at the sight in front of her. In Ruby's sleep, her arms latched onto Jaune and wrapped itself around him with her head now nuzzling into his neck. The blonde who was being used as a bed also latched onto the girl sleeping on top of him with his arms placed on her waist. They both still had their clothes on, so it was safe to say nothing happened besides what they were seeing.

Hearing her sister giggling, Ruby woke up with a yawn and slid off her fellow leader as she tried to stretch. Falling on the floor, she rubbed her butt and got back up to see Yang eyeing her with a Cheshire grin.

"What?" She asked, still rubbing some of the sleep our of her eyes.

"Nothing." Her older sister said in a singsong tone. "I just want you to know that we'll be landing soon."

Stirring Weiss awake, the heiress cleared her throat feeling it dry. Soon, all of them were awake and getting the kinks out from not sleeping in a bed.

' _Attention.'_ The pilot's voice sounded over. _'We'll be landing soon. Fasten your seatbelts and wait for the touchdown.'_

Groaning at having to sit down once more, the group grudgingly did as they were instructed and waited for the landing. As they were lowering, they saw trees and a dirt path that was eerily familiar to Ruby and Yang. Once the door opened, the two were shocked to see where they were.

"We're in Patch?!" The sisters said together, seeing their house with their dad standing in front to greet them.

The first to get down was Zwei, who immediately went somewhere to relieve himself properly. The next was Nora who was in need of doing the same thing, but more of in a toilet and not on a tree.

"Bathroom please!" She pleaded, doing a small dance while she waited for a response.

"It's the door near the stairs." Taiyang thumbed to his house, getting a quick thank you as Nora bolted in. Turning to his daughters who were looking at him, he put on his best 'you're in trouble' face. "So. I watched the news the other day and got a call from Ozpin."

He wasn't really mad, but he was going to milk it for as long as they were staying with him. But as per Ozpin's orders, they were now in Taiyang's boot camp.

 **AN: It's short, but the next chapter will hold some action and training. That's right: no lazy timeskips. It's also back to character building, character breaking, rebuilding, and some more ship teasing.**

 **The crying parts I got inspired by Trigun after Vash killed someone. (sigh) I miss that show. Not sure where I got the idea of them being put as the scapegoats for. One minute I'm writing how they go back to Vale and are recognized by the public as heroes, the next I'm erasing the whole thing to put them behind bars.**

 **On the side note, I finished watching SVTFOE and my heart clenched at the ending! To those that haven't seen anything I wont spoil, but dang! Shock and feels Starco fans. Also it's March, and I'm counting down to the 11th! Some of you might know why. (Hint: Gotta get back, back to the past…s)**

 **To make up for how short this was, here's an omake I didn't add to the story.**

 **Omake**

 **Avalanche Weiss**

"Again, I am so sorry for this guys." Sun repeated, seeing the group close to exploding.

"I know you are Sun." Weiss said calmly while trembling from her rising rage. "Unfortunately, I need to blow off steam and you're the unlucky messenger that brought this to us. So I hope you understand."

Everyone besides Sun found some place to take cover feeling something big about to happen.

"Go for it." The monkey faunus whispered with eyes shut, relinquishing to his fate.

"Gladly." The heiress said in a whisper back before uncorking the bottle. "IF YOU WEREN'T SO INCOMPETENT IN YOUR WORK, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE EVER HAPPENED! YOU PIGS ARE THE LEECH OF SOCIETY ACTING LIKE GLORIFIED HEROES WHEN YOU'RE MERE GANGSTERS ENFORCING YOUR RULE ON THE DEFENSELESS CIVILIANS WHILE TAKING THEIR TAXPAY! THE MOST MINISCULE OF MITOCHONDRIAC CELLS HAVE A FAR MORE IMPORTANT ROLE IN LIFE THAN YOUR INSIGNIFICANT PLOY OF PEACE KEEPING! IN FACT ALL YOU UNIFORMED DONUT GUZZLERS ARE ONLY GOOD FOR TRAFFIC DIRECTING, AND YOU CAN'T EVEN DO THAT RIGHT!"

After finishing her rant and opening her eyes, Weiss found she was standing over Sun while the boy was in fetal position looking like a kicked puppy. Backing away from him, she cleared her throat and helped the poor boy up from the ground. "Than you for taking it so well Sun. I'll be waiting for you and the others outside now."

Patting the monkey faunus on the arm, Weiss walked out with a glow around her like the aftereffects of a good lay. As the others got out from their hiding spot, the soon followed while glancing at the still frozen Sun. Once the door clicked shut, the monkey faunus fell to his knees and curled up into a ball to start sobbing on the rug. Zwei, the adorable thing, saw someone in need of comfort and padded over to nuzzle his head on the boy's cheek. It still didn't stop the sobbing of the broken boy's spirit though.

 **END**

 **AN: And the snow blocked out the Sun! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.**


	16. Chapter 15

**AN: Hey there everyone, Aloehisja here with another chapter.**

 **Sorry for the long wait but I've been busy. My laptop needs a new battery because it drains crazy now and overheats fast. But enough talk, lets get to the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Metal Gear.**

 **Chapter 15:** Boot camp

Taiyang Xiao Long, father to Ruby and Yang and a teacher at Signal Academy. Currently he was guiding his daughters along with their friends to a far off campsite that would be a half day's walk. By the pace they were going, they'd be there by nightfall and ready to make a fire. They would have made it by the afternoon, but the Schnee refused to leave most of her belongings in his house. He said to bring only the essentials, but in her words 'everything she had was essential.' He wondered how three pairs of shoes and a silk dress were essential.

"So where are we heading?" Yang asked her dad, breaking the silence as they hiked.

"Far up to the forests in the east is a guard post against the Grimm." The father told his daughters along with their friends. "It's been abandoned for years now since a new one was made closer to the town, but Grimm pass by that area a few times."

Turning back, he made sure to see they were still listening. "We're going to take that post back and start defending the village from Grimm."

"Sweet." The brawler nodded, seeing it as a camping trip. "So we're basically going to be guarding the town until the tournament closes in, right?"

If only it were that simple. The teens didn't know it, but Glynda and Oobleck contacted the older blonde while they were on the ride here. They gave him backgrounds on all of them and added some of their inputs and concerns for him to try and fix. From the looks of things, he'd have to break some of them down into nothing and build them back up – he even had an idea for some of them.

"Don't think any of you'll be getting any time off." He chided her. "This is a training trip for you guys to improve yourselves, so nothing's going to be easy."

Seeing his oldest daughter giving him a challenging smirk, he knew she was asking for it.

"The place is abandoned so no hot showers." He shot out, getting a gasp out of her. Now to let it sink further. "In fact, I doubt there's any water at all. Also hope you guys brought enough rations to last the months because I doubt the food in there's any good."

Whatever confidence Yang had was snuffed out after he said that. She forgets he was the one who raised her and knew most of her weaknesses – one of them being a proper shower and a nice meal. Now that he thought about it, most of the academies were starting to go easy on their students nowadays – with Shade being the exception, but that's what you get in Vacuo.

 **Nightfall**

After climbing rocky hills, crossing a river, and going through grassy fields; they finally made it to their destination. It was a sight for sore eyes – and really, it was a sight. Dead rotting wood, a post tower that could collapse with just one punch, dead grass, and a broken cabin that's seen better days. The perfect place for training in Taiyang's book.

"Welp!" He clapped his hands, looking back to the teams staring at the horrible sight before them. "This is it. I'll give you guys some time to set your things up and we'll make a campfire."

Trotting off to get some firewood, the father left the two teams to unpack and get their bearings. Wouldn't be too hard though since the only storage cabin looked like it was missing half a roof. While Jaune and Ren went into the cabin to scope things out, the girls stayed outside to unpack.

"This … this is horrible." Weiss stated the obvious, opening her pack to get her sleeping bag out. "It's even worse than camping in Mountain Glenn."

"At least the abandoned building we slept in looked sturdy." Blake agreed, walking up to the cabin and flicking it. She wasn't surprised when it broke, but she did flinch once termites started crawling out. "I think I'll take my chances sleeping outside."

"Ditto."

"Same."

Not trusting to put their things in the cabin, the group found a nice spot on a tree to put their stuff on. At least the greenery survived and looked sturdy.

"You think this place has a bathroom?" Ruby asked, not wanting to do her business out in the open. It was fine when she was five, but the thought of doing it with Jaune and Ren around made her feel uncomfortable.

At that moment, the two boys walked out of the rotting cabin with dust in their hair and cobwebs on their clothes.

"You guys want the good news or the bad news?" The blonde asked them, giving the choice of what to hear first.

"Good news please." The little reaper said, feeling they needed something good to hear.

"The good news is that there's a toilet in there." The blonde clapped with an awkward smile while giving Ruby some relief.

"And the bad news?" The cat faunus asked.

"The bad news is that it's filled with fungus and mold." Ren stated, crushing the relief Ruby had. "Like really bad mold covering the whole thing."

And now Ruby didn't feel so bad on doing her business outside. No competition when up against moldy toilet. All she had to do was find a place far away from the boys.

"Any water?" Yang asked, hoping to at least have a shower in there.

"Rusted pipes." Jaune sighed, crushing both girls' hopes. Looks like they were really going to be roughing it. "But hey, we saw that river a few miles back. We could just take a bath in that, right?"

It was also noted that the river was fifteen miles away from where they were now. It wasn't something Weiss was all too happy about, but this was the price they had to pay.

Finding a spot to settle down on, the group waited for Ruby and Yang's dad to return with a bunch of firewood in his arms. After getting the fire going, the group huddled around it to enjoy the warmth it gave from the cold air.

"So how are you guys enjoying the camp so far?" Taiyang knew they hated it. This place was a literal hazard to health with the molds and old splintered wood alone. From the looks of how they left their things in a tree, he'd guess the inside wasn't any better either.

"I know things might seem hard now, but they'll get better." He told them, tossing another log into the flame. "Sometimes you'll find yourselves on these kinds of missions far away from civilization with nothing but the wilds around you to work with."

Not getting any of them to respond, he thought it was time to get to the point. "So the civilians turned on you, right?"

That got a reaction as they all looked up from the flames to him.

"Yeah, I heard the whole thing from Ozpin." The father informed them. "It's like no matter what we do, it's never enough for them. We bleed and sweat to keep them safe, but never get even a thank you in return. It sucks, I know but if no one does it who will?"

"Doctor Oobleck taught me about the counsel?" Ruby told her dad, picking a few grass near her. "He says they're afraid of us so they crack down rules to protect the people from us. I still don't get why though. Why are they afraid of us dad?"

' _Because they're idiots Ruby.'_ Was what he wanted to say, but wouldn't answer anything. "Because we're stronger Ruby. We're capable of doing things normal people can't think of doing. So they try to make limits so we don't turn on them. It's like how some people are with the faunus. Only instead of being racist, it's more of being classist."

"But my dad's a hunter and no one's done anything like this to him." Jaune shared, remembering how a few people looked to his dad with nothing short of respect.

"Jaune Arc." Taiyang pointed to him, remembering the info he read on the kid. "From Ansel, right? The place is a small village, so having a hunter there is like having their very own guardian angel around. Places like Vale though, that's another story. Big city capitals feel entitled to protection and lash out if not done the way they like. In the end, the counsel will always take the sides of the civilians since they outnumber the hunters and huntresses. It's all politics to them."

Yang had to groan as Oobleck's lectures had to follow her. It's like wherever she goes, it always had to do with damn politics.

"Going away from that, I hope you guys are ready for tomorrow." He tried to brighten the mood. "I'm going to be pushing you guys way out of your comfort zones to make you little gems shine. Who knows, maybe we can even spruce this place up to make it better than ever."

That would be something for all of them. With this place being a dump, it could be a project for them to work on together. Who knows, maybe they could even turn it into their little base.

Taiyang never told his girls, but the house they lived in used to be team STRQ's base when they were still students at Beacon in their third year. They were starting to become independent and felt like it was time to break away from their nests. At least that's what three out of four of them thought.

 _Aaw!_

Looking up to the sounds of a bird crowing, Taiyang saw two black birds with red eyes looking down at him from a branch they were perched on. Narrowing his eyes, he turned back to the two teams who were slowly drifting off to sleep.

"I'm going to go take a walk." He told them, patting Zwei to stay with them.

Not saying anything else, he wandered far off and made sure none of them followed him. Feeling he was far enough from the fire, he waited in silence for two certain people to show themselves. "It's ok to come out now."

Hearing a flutter of wings and grass being stepped on, Taiyang turned in the direction of the noise to see his ex-wife and her brother standing together in front of him.

"It's been a while Raven." He said gruffly, not going to show weakness in front of her.

"It has been dear." She smirked, eyes turning to glance in the direction of the campfire. "Interesting bunch you have with you."

"Why are you here?" He growled, glaring at both of them. "Why are you _both_ here?!"

"Easy Tai." Qrow tried to play he mediator. "We're getting to that."

Clenching his fists tightly before releasing them, he heaved a large breath to calm down. It took him almost a full year to get over her, but just having her in front of him brought a lot of emotions out of him – most of them being regret and longing. Raven still held a special place in his heart he couldn't let go of. She _did_ give him an amazing daughter he was always grateful for.

"The Counsel is getting arrogant each day." Raven started with a scowl, crossing her arms over her chest. "Those …children being here is proof they need to be overthrown."

And there was the famous charm that snagged Taiyang in the first place. Raven's 'this world is flawed and needs to be purged' ideal. He was so stupid when he was young to fall on her every word. It took Summer literally smacking him over the head to show him there was more to the world than what Raven was saying then. Both of them were what made him what he was today.

"If that's all you came to tell me, then it's nothing new to me." Taiyang brushed off what she said. "They've always been corrupt hounds. They're not even going to push too hard cause they know we're the only things keeping the Grimm far away from them. If there is a Grimm invasion, then don't expect me to be in the frontlines to save them."

"Good you know." The raven woman flicked a bit of her back. Turning away from him, she focused on the light coming from the campfire. "As I've said already, you have an interesting bunch with you. It's a tad shame Beacon is weakening their potential."

"Never thought of you to be so impressed." The blonde man stated, not knowing where she was going with this. Looking to Qrow, it was news to him too.

Raven let off a small chuckle as she leaned back on a tree. While the man of her offspring was off gathering firewood, she was watching the two teams. So far nothing impressed her, but she saw the potential in a few of them. Her daughter was a lost cause, but she saw it in the eyes of the four others – and so much more.

"You're still as short sighted as ever Taiyang." She said, an amused smirk on her face. "After all these years you still can't see what is right in front of you."

"Get to the point." He nearly snarled, not wanting her to push any buttons.

Instead of answering him, she pushed off the tree she was leaning on and opened a portal. Walking in, she turned back to give her final say. It was a whisper only the two men could hear, but what she said made both their eyes widen. With that said, the portal closed leaving only Qrow and Taiyang.

"I'm staying to help." The uncle stated as a fact and not an offer.

Any other time the blonde father would have rejected him, but after what they both heard he'd need it. Anything to keep those kids from turning into something like her.

 **The next morning**

"Wakey wakey!" Taiyang shouted, banging a stick on a familiar shield.

The two teams got up with a groan with some of their backs popping. The fire was nice and warm, but the ground they were on wasn't the smoothest or softest – Ren felt he had a rock underneath close to his tailbone.

SPLASH!

Yang shot out of her sleeping back after being splashed by a cold bucket of water from her uncle Qrow. The effect got the two young men to turn away from finding out the blonde brawler didn't wear a bra to sleep. After the anger was gone and they were fully awake, Ruby and Yang finally registered who was joining them.

"Uncle Qrow!" Both shouted, one with joy and the other with anger. Using her semblance, Ruby was latching onto her only uncle's arm.

"It's so good to see you." She cheered, kicking her legs as he dangled her off his arm. "Did you miss me? Did you miss me?!"

"…No." The drinker smirked, using his other hand to ruffle her hair. "Good to see you again pipsqueak."

"I'm still growing." She mumbled, fixing her hair back into place. "But what are you doing here?"

"News got around that a bunch of sorry saps pissed off half of Vale." Qrow started, looking over the teams. "I heard Tai here was in charge of whipping you guys into shape, so here I am to add in my own expertise."

"Dad?" Yang looked to the older blonde, who was eyeing team JNPR.

Remembering the info Glynda and Oobleck gave him along with Raven's words, Taiyang was going to have to push all of them out of their comfort zones and into stranger waters. Besides, if Qrow could turn Ruby into a deadly weapon with a cute attitude then he could trust him to help out.

"We'll be splitting you guys." Taiyang told his eldest. "I'm going to take four while he takes the others."

"So who has the honor of training team RWBY?" The blonde brawler wiggled her eyebrows.

"Who said anything about you guys sticking together?" Qrow butted in, Ruby still hanging off his arm. "Unlike Beacon putting you guys together, you're out here where we pick who teams up with who."

Hearing this, Ruby lost her grip on her uncle's arm not believing what she was hearing. There was a chance she wasn't going to be with her own team?! But she loved her team!

"So how we usually pick?" Qrow asked Tai as they stood together. Getting a nod, the two men eyed their prospective bunch. The eight teens didn't feel comfortable with how the two men's auras were bursting out.

 **One line up later**

"Yang." Tai started first, picking his eldest daughter.

"Ruby." Qrow picked next, getting Ruby to walk to his side.

Now that they got who they really wanted out of the way, it was time to pick from the other bunch. Sucks for Qrow that he didn't know who was the best to pick.

"Pyrrha." He felt she was a well-rounded person and would be good for the team.

"Dang, he chose pumpkin girl." The alcoholic rubbed his chin, getting Pyrrha to give a small glare. Did everyone think of her from that dumb cereal?

" _Pick Weiss, pick Weiss, pick Weiss."_ Ruby chanted with fingers crossed, wanting to have her partner with her.

"The quiet guy with the pink hair." Ruby almost sobbed from not getting her partner. It was fine, there were two more choices.

Having Ren join team Qrow, Nora was having her fingers crossed not to be picked next.

"Blake." Tai chose his daughter's partner. He was really scraping the bottom of the barrel now.

"The pink girl." Did Qrow not know they're names, or was he just giving nicknames? Jokes on him; that girl was a wildcard. Oh look, she was squeezing her partner to death.

Looking at the last two remaining choices, both men contemplated who to pick. Either way it was Tai's turn but choosing was hard. He had nothing against them, but both seemed like they needed a lot of work.

"Jaune." Tai chose Jaune, much to the delight of the champion. After remembering the Schnee wanting to take three pairs of shoes with her, it was obvious who to choose. Looks like Qrow was stuck with –

"Zwei." The drunkard picked the cute corgi that bounded up to Ruby.

"Eh?" Weiss squeaked, feeling embarrassed while standing alone by the dead campfire.

"Hey hold on a minute, you can't-" Before the father could finish scolding Qrow for joking around, the man somehow lifted his chosen team in his arms.

"Well looks like that's everyone, I'm going to train them bye!" The man said in one breath while running off with three teenagers and one corgi.

Seeing the heiress trembling alone with a red face, Tai sighed as his father instincts tugged at his heart. The little white haired girl looked like she was about to burst into tears!

"Come on, Weiss." He motioned her to stand with his team. "You're on my team now."

Nodding, the heiress joined the now five-man team. Oddly enough, she felt like the one kid no one wanted so the kinder group just pulled her in. …So this is what it must be like to be Jaune – felt sad honestly.

"Before we head off though." Taiyang said, turning to Jaune and holding his hand out. "Your weapon."

Not understanding what was going on, Jaune unstrapped Crocea Mors from his hip and handed it over to the older blonde. As the man unsheathed the blade, he walked over to the stump he was sitting on last night and concentrated his strength into his arms. With one quick thrust down, Taiyang stabbed the sword straight into the stump until it was now up to the hilt. The action confused the owner of the sword along with the girls watching.

"Come here and try to pull it out." The man said to Jaune, stepping aside to let Jaune pull his sword out. After seeing him try for what felt like five minutes, he shook his head. "Having trouble pulling it out?"

"That's more of his dad's problem." Yang quipped, getting a small cough from Blake and a blush from Pyrrha and Weiss.

After trying once more, Jaune's grip slipped. In the process, he did get the tanto out.

"I guess I'll let you keep that knife with you." Taiyang shrugged, helping the boy off the ground. "The only way you'll be getting your sword back is by pulling it out yourself."

"And no help from any of you or the others either." He added to the girls watching.

Getting his sheath back, Jaune popped it into shield form and placed it on his back.

"I've read your profile Jaune." Yang's dad said in a hush tone, getting Jaune to listen. "I know you didn't get the training most of your friends got early in life and I'm going to help you fix that."

"But my friends-" The knight started but got cut off.

"I know they're helping you, but you need professional help like they did." Tai said, getting Jaune to think it over. "Your partner practically had five people teach her how to fight, Weiss got to where she was at with the best help, and my own daughters had personal help from me and their uncle."

There was no need to explain on Blake given her history. Looking at his family sword stuck in the stump, Jaune turned back to the man offering to teach him. "What do I have to do?"

The man smirked as he got the blonde boy to listen. Looks like he wasn't as stubborn as his profile put him out to be. Now to get him a proper weapon.

 **Deep in the forest**

Ruby groaned as she was left alone with no one.

"Hey Ruby, look at what I found." Nora called to her while poking a dead opossum.

Yup. She was all alone with no team. Her uncle abandoned her partner and took instead her dog. How could her uncle Qrow choose Zwei over Weiss?! …Okay, it was easy to do that but still! Now Ruby didn't have her team with her while they were all together! It wasn't fair, she tells the world!

"Nora, stop poking that." Ren chided her. "It probably has some disease.

"Aww." The ginger groaned, stepping away from the corpse with a pout. "If Jaune was here, he'd let me poke the opossum."

"And Pyrrha would tell you both not to." The ninja shot back, knowing his partner would somehow convince their leader to join her.

Stomping away from the two, Ruby looked for her uncle to convince him to take Weiss with them. If everyone got their partners, why couldn't she? Finding him perched on tree, she called out to him when she saw he as looking over his scroll. He was even looking serious for once.

"What are you doing?" She asked, wanting to get started as soon as possible.

"I'm just marking something on my scroll." He shrugged, swiping the screen before pocketing it. Getting off the branch and landing in front of Ruby, he ruffled her hair for fun and to get a rise out of her and so she'd follow him back to the others. "For today, we're going to be patrolling for any Grimm wandering near the area. Split into teams and cover more ground. By nightfall, all of you should be back at the campsite."

Seeing Nora and Ren about to walk off, he stopped them from going any further.

"You're not going with your old partners." Qrow halted them in their tracks. "For this patrol, you'll be going with someone else you haven't worked with before. So Ruby, you'll be going with Nora over there. And Ren will be patrolling with Zwei."

This was new to them. None of the teens had any problem with who they were paired up with, but it just seemed on the spur. Ren was the one most skeptical of his partner though.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to just have Zwei?" The ninja asked, feeling like he got the short end of the stick.

"It's fine." Qrow smirked, not feeling bothered. "You won't slow him down."

And now Ren saw where Yang got her teasing from. It was fine not to like the guy a little, right? No one could blame him? Walking off with Zwei leading the way, he turned back to give Nora a nod before he was completely out of sight.

Walking away from the girls, Qrow went off to do a quick errand. His niece was moved up two years before he could teach her any more, but now he had a chance to cram some more stuff down her head.

 **With Taiyang**

The five teens plus the older hunter were split into three groups with Weiss and Jaune taking the riverbed, Blake and Pyrrha patrolling the grasslands, and the father and daughter duo taking the hills. While patrolling, they'd also stock up on supplies like any edible mushrooms or herbs and refill on water.

Sitting atop a high rock, Taiyang brought out some binoculars to get a better sighting of the people on his team. No Grimm sightings so far, but he wasn't going to get comfortable because of the silence. Checking the grasslands, the Nikos girl along with Belladonna were looking over some of the plants that were growing. He warned them of some of the poisonous vegetation, but as a father with kids of his own he still worried.

Looking to the riverhead, he saw the Schnee girl with Arc trying to catch some fish. He hoped they would be able to catch something – it was his dumb luck to find out his rations expired because of a break in the sealing.

"See anything old man?" Yang called up to him from her spot on another rock.

The blonde brawler was laid back while soaking in some of the sun's rays. Today was a nice and breezy – the perfect weather for camping.

"Just checking on your friends." He replied, putting his scopes away to talk with his daughter. "So how have things been going with you lately? Besides the whole taken out of school thing."

"Not much to say." She shrugged, pulling her aviator shades up. "I helped organize the dance. That was something."

She's trying to act normal, _too_ normal. The father's known his baby girl long enough to see when she was hiding something. Since she and her friends arrived, his little sun dragon's been all jokes and chatty while everyone else was quiet. Something was bothering and unlike the others, he didn't have an idea of what it was.

Getting off his high rock, he landed on hers so they were sitting closer. "What's up?"

"What do you mean 'What's up?'" She asked back, scooting a bit away from him.

"C'mon Yang." He wrapped an arm around her. "I know to much to see when something's on your mind. So come on; I'm all ears."

Seeing this wasn't going to go anywhere else, the busty blonde thought it was time to share with her dad. "I-I thought I saw mom on the train. No! I'm sure I saw her! She …she saved me."

The father kept a strong face once his daughter said that. First he sees Raven last night and she brings some bad news, the next he learns his daughter saw her. Was Raven trying to open up old wounds?

"Yang, I thought we've been over this." He hugged her tighter. This wasn't healthy for either of them.

"I know!" She nearly cried in anger, burying her head into his chest. "I know. …But I still want to know more about her. I still want to talk to her."

"Raven… Raven's a lot of things." He shared, stroking her back. "And some of those things I see in you. You're both strong and determined; and despite how you act, I know you're as cunning as she is. But I'm glad I don't see all of her in you."

"Why?"

"Because no matter how amazing she is, she's not always right despite what she says." He stated, realizing that since Summer fully came into his life. "All she ever sees is gloom and the worst in things. But you don't. You see both the good and the bad. It's why you're my little sun dragon."

 _sniff_

"Are you crying?" The father asked, feeling a bit of a wet stain on his shirt.

"Yeah right, old man!" She pushed off him with a smirk and shining eyes. "I'm not a little girl to be crying so easy."

"No matter how old you guys get, you and Ruby will always be my cute little girls." He shot back, pulling her in for a noogie. "In fact, you're still that same snot nosed kid who played tree number three in elementary!"

"Stop!" She laughed, not wanting him to mess her hair. "And it was Ruby that played tree number three, not me!"

This was sort of one person fixed in Tai's book. Now that he got his eldest back to her real normal self, it was time to work on the others. Last he checked on the groups, Pyrrha and Blake found some herbs and edible mushrooms that would go good on the fire. As for Jaune and Weiss though…

 **With the heiress and the knight**

"All I'm saying is that this would be a lot faster if I just shocked the waters to get the fish." Weiss rolled her eyes, watching Jaune try to catch fish with a bow and arrow.

It was a surprise to the girls he actually knew how to use a bow and arrow – especially since the rifle Taiyang gave him kicked him in the teeth from the recoil. So Jaune was given a bow and arrow along with an axe to cut some firewood.

Weiss would admit with a little more practice and an upgrade to what he was using now, Jaune could very well use the items as his long range weapons. It suited him rather than handing him a loud gun to blast around.

"Weiss, shush." The blonde whispered, still taking aim into the water. "You're going to scare the fish away."

"How is it you even know archery and fishing?" The heiress ignored his plea. "You weren't exactly the most composed person in Beacon until I helped you."

 _Thwip! Splash!_

Running over to get the arrow back, Jaune cheered as he got another fish. That was six so far, but it wouldn't be enough with how small three of them were. Walking back to Weiss, he tossed their food into a basket after pulling out the arrow.

"I did a lot of camping with my family as a kid." He answered, sitting down to take a break. It was rare for the two to share since most of the time it was her teaching him how to compose himself. "We did lots of things together like archery, fishing, hikes, swimming, and sometimes horseback riding."

" _You_ took horseback riding?" Weiss said as if it was an empty boast.

"It was my sister's idea, okay?" He shot back with a small blush.

Sure he fell like eight times, but he learned. He even started enjoying riding the horses. At least they didn't give him motion sickness.

"Going back to you knowing archery, why haven't you thought of using it as your long range weapon?" She asked, getting a shrug in return.

"Everyone has cool stuff like mechashifts and bullets." The blonde said, getting Weiss to raise a brow at his reason. "What's a dinky bow and arrow going to do against stuff like that?"

Weiss outwardly scoffed at his reason. His very reason was because of popularity and a misconception of effectiveness. She wasn't a weapons nut like her partner, but Weiss wasn't one to ignore any type of ignorance.

"Your very reason is idiotic." She told him straight. Pulling her weapon out, she had him gaze upon it's very magnificence. "Jaune, can you tell me what my weapon is?"

"It's an epee, right?" That earned him a smack to the head.

"It's a rapier!" The heiress ground out, waving Myrtenaster a bit for emphasis. She'd rant later on about the difference between the two. "When I chose the rapier as my base weapon, many people in Atlas scoffed at my choice since heavy artillery was the popular trend amongst my peers. I ignored them of obviously."

"What I'm getting at, is that your weapon shouldn't be based on popular trends or misguided thoughts." She concluded. Taking one of the arrows into her hand, she sprinkled a bit of lightning dust she had in her pack on the arrowhead. "What we can do, is try to change our choice of weapons to fit in with the times."

It was a valuable lesson Winter taught her after Weiss told her about her peer's thoughts. Truthfully the heiress chose the rapier because it was almost similar to what her older sister had, but she found just the rapier alone wasn't enough. So she added the revolver mechanism to hold dust.

"Try this." She held the now electrically charged arrow for him to use.

Taking the now enhanced arrow, Jaune steadied his shot to where he could see a bunch of big fish swimming in a school. Releasing the arrow, it sailed in the center and caused a shocked most of the fish in process. After a few seconds, tons of fish were floating up the surface.

"I told you shocking the water would be faster." Weiss said with nose in the air. It was satisfying to be right sometimes.

"When you're right, you're right." Jaune agreed, waiting until it was safe to start grabbing the fish. "Now we'll just have to bring this back to the campsite for storing."

On their way back, the two continued to share stories of their different childhoods. Jaune shared of all his camping trip experiences, and Weiss shared of her high-class balls and concerts she was subjected to. Although she enjoyed a few, the company she had was left wanting.

 **END**

 **AN: So it's day one of the camping trip and things are going so-so. It might seem tame looking now, but later on things will start to get challenging. This isn't just a two-week camping/training trip. It's a mission, and they're just getting started.**

 **So a show of Raven and Qrow appearing with the uncle coming early. Teams are now mixed for the most part, but there's a reason for that. The chapters coming will all be about each and every one of them healing and growing. Will it be enough to prepare them for the Vytal Festival and what we know is coming? I won't tell. (Ooh, so evil.)**

 **If some of you are wondering, yes I put a Camp Camp reference. Jaune has stated he's gone camping with his family, and I doubt his huntsman dad wouldn't teach them some basic things. (He did make a torch in initiation, and he doesn't look the type to hold dust for an easy light.)**

 **Next chapter we'll have sparring and more character growth. Maybe even a bit of conflict.**

 **Omake**

 **With Pyrrha and Blake**

"So." Pyrrha said, not knowing what to talk about with Blake.

Now that the two thought about it, have they ever even said a single word to one another besides the usual greeting? If there was one thing they had in common, it was that they knew each other from a friend of a friend.

' _This is so awkward.'_ Both girls thought, not knowing what to say.

Usually Blake wouldn't care about talking with someone on her team, but that was because she _knew_ her team. Basically, it came down to listening to Ruby when she was sad, tuning Weiss out when she was scolding, and a mix with Yang since she never knew what the blonde brawler would say or do. The only person the two were close friends with was the champion's partner and leader.

"Erhm." Blake coughed, trying to clear her throat.

"Yes?" Pyrrha's head shot up, turning to look at her.

"I didn't say anything." The cat faunus said a bit too quickly, her cat ears flattening.

"O-oh. I'm sorry." The redhead apologized with a sad tone, getting Blake to stop her foraging. "I guess you really wanted to go with Weiss didn't you?"

"It's not that." Blake said, putting her basket down. "I just wanted to go fishing instead of picking up mushrooms and herbs."

"O-oh." Pyrrha perked up a bit, feeling glad the problem wasn't her. "Truthfully, _I_ wanted to go to the riverbed as well."

"Because of Jaune?" Blake asked with a teasing smirk and a brow raised.

"N-no! …Yes." The champion caved with a blush, feeling the cat's eyes boring into her soul.

Feeling like they had a better understanding of things, the two got back to foraging without the awkward air around them. To Pyrrha, Blake was just like a female Ren she could share with; and to Blake, Pyrrha was like a politer Yang without the pushiness and the bad puns.

' _We should really hang out more.'_ Both thought, enjoying each other's company in silence.

 **END**

 **AN: Really, I don't think I ever wrote the two hanging out together or bonding.**


	17. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

 **AN: Well last chapter got some good reviews. I know there are questions regarding Jaune's strength and not being able to pull his sword out (no dirty jokes please.) That'll be answered soon in the story. Regarding the Council being a sort of enemy, remember that they took power away from Ozpin and gave control to Ironwood.**

 **But enough on that, let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 16:** Re:Building

Dinner was a blast for the two teams and the two grown hunters.

Nothing beat fresh fish stuffed with rich herbs cooked over an open flame. There was no complaint from the cat faunus who had her healthy helpings of five fish she sorted for herself. After setting the flames to a safe size to prevent a forest fire, everyone tucked into their sleeping bags for the night.

Hours after thinking that everyone was asleep, Jaune got up to walk over to where his sword was at. Part of him wanted to get it back, but another was glad it wasn't with him. It was the weapon he used that caused someone's death. Now that he thought it over, if his great grandfather used it in his battles during the war didn't it mean it's been through so much bloodshed? But it was a family heirloom and the only thing his parents gave him before he went to Beacon – he should take it. The armor was something he got at a cheap price.

Gripping the hilt, the blonde tried one more to pull without stopping. It should be easy to take it out. He was almost at Yang's level of strength, so this should be easy. So why wasn't it budging?!

"Having trouble there?" Yang's dad whispered, startling him and making him lose grip on the handle. Catching him before he could fall back, Taiyang pushed him back to stand straight. "You're not giving up on this, are you?"

Instead of getting an answer, the young blonde just went back to pulling on the handle. It was useless in Taiyang's opinion. He made it so not even his friends would be able to pull it out with just brute force. This was a test for the leader of JNPR to do on his own.

"You're not going to get it out like that." The man told Jaune when he saw him trying to wiggle it loose.

Walking over, Taiyang concentrated aura into his arms and hand and pulled the blade out. With the only light being the moonlight, Jaune was able to see the glow. Just as he was about to reach for his sword, the father plunged it back into the stump in the same hole.

"Try it now."

Walking over to pull his sword out, Jaune thought it would be easy since it was now loose. He was wrong when he felt the sword still stuck with the same resistance.

"How?" He finally asked, losing some of his patience.

"Aura kid." The man said, concentrating a bit into his hand for emphasis. "You're going to need to learn how to use it if you want your sword back."

"But I thought aura was just something to protect us like a force field." Jaune said while massaging his arms.

Yeah, Taiyang thought the same thing too when he was a dumb kid like him. Back then it was all about brute force and no technique. Looking at the kids made him realize how dumb he was back then.

"That's only part of it." He explained. "See, aura has a lot of uses. It's more than just a force field."

Placing his hand that was still emanating aura onto the side of the stump, a small branch grew out with some leaves. "With enough concentration, it can be used to heal. Your friend Ren knows how to use it in fighting Grimm. If I wanted, I could send an aura punch to blow up a boulder from the inside."

"What's that have to do with my sword, though?" Jaune asked, getting a small grumble from the older blonde.

"I gotta be as blunt as I can with you, huh?" The guy was really like him when he was a kid. "The sword… isn't just stabbed into the stump. The tree… is grown around it. I… used my aura… to make it harder… to pull the sword out. You… need to use your aura… to pull it out. Do. You. Un-der-stand?"

While he explained it he said it as slowly as possible, getting an eye twitch from the sword's owner.

"I got it." Jaune grumbled, feeling very insulted. "But I don't know how to use my aura."

The older blonde already knew that by the files sent on him. Getting aura was easy; it was learning how to use it that was the hard part. But just like riding a bike, it's hard at first but easy once you got the hang of it.

"Haven't you ever tried to concentrate on it?" He asked. "Wasn't there a time where you felt you used your aura for something?"

Now that the knight thought about it, he did use his aura once to block Cardin's punch when he was being bullied. He couldn't remember what he was thinking about, but all he knew was that there was glowing and a want to push the pain away. It seemed so long ago with the other stuff he got pulled into.

"I think I had something." He scratched his head, going to the sword to try and pull once more. This time he'd concentrate.

"Let's see what you got." Taiyang patted him on the back, waiting to see the result.

Taking a breath and closing his eyes, Jaune concentrated on his grip on the sword and pulled once more. Taiyang watched as nothing was happening at first, but then the kid's whole body was starting to glow. He wasn't expecting him to have so much aura. But at the same time something was off. It was fluctuating like a lightbulb close to burning out.

The moment the light dimmed and moved to Jaune's hands, the blonde flew back as if some sort of invisible force pushed him. Jogging over to pick him up, the man cursed to see he was knocked out. Taiyang looked back to the sword to see it was half way pulled out and glowing a bit.

Dragging the unconscious boy back to the campfire, he noticed five people staring at him. Turning in their direction after putting Jaune in his sleeping bag, he saw Qrow, Pyrrha, Ren, Blake, and Yang were awake.

"I saw the whole thing." Qrow whispered, looking back to the sword halfway pulled out. "Hard to ignore when you see a bright light going off like that."

"What was that?" Pyrrha asked in concern. She woke up to the light shining in her face then saw her partner fly back.

As for the others, Blake was awake the whole time when Jaune got up and Ren woke up the same time as Pyrrha once the glowing started. Yang just woke up when she heard her dad bringing Jaune in. The unconscious blonde was supposed to use his aura to enhance his strength, but instead he did something else.

"That was his semblance."

 **Morning**

"Alright everyone." Taiyang clapped for the teens to wake up.

Yang was the first to get up with a roll. She didn't need to be told twice after the last embarrassing wake up. She'd never become a bride if Ren or Jaune saw too much – not by her, but by her old man or Qrow. Not that there was anything wrong the two guys, but she felt they were already off the market. Plus, Yang Arc and Yang Ren didn't have that much of a ring. …Then again, she could just have them take her name.

"Wake up Renny." Nora pulled her partner up with a bear hug.

"Come on Pyrrha. It's time to start the day." Jaune shook a disgruntled champion.

A grumble while curling up into a ball was her response. After last night, she couldn't get a wink of sleep. The redhead's mind was buzzing of what her leader's semblance was. By the time she had lulled off, the father of Ruby and Yang had to wake them up.

Watching the morning interactions of team JNPR, Yang changed her mind. No matter how cool Jaune Xiao Long or Ren Xiao Long sounded, she wasn't poking those dragons. One could send her flying into the air and the other could pretty much have her punch herself. Shaking the minor envy off, she stretched out the stiffness in her back.

"So what's on the agenda today?" The blonde brawler asked her dad.

"We'll be collecting some wood today." The father told them. "I wasn't kidding when I said we'd spruce this place up. Three of you even have the items for this. But to keep your skills sharpened, we'll have two spars each day. One in the morning and the other at night."

"So who get's the first morning spar?" Qrow joined in the topic. Eyeing the team he picked yesterday, he was a kid in a candy store trying to pick his first choice. "Squirt, I choose you!"

Ruby grumbled at something about mil before stepping forward. She wouldn't be short forever. Her mom wasn't that short so shed still had a few more inches to grow, right? Unfolding her scythe, she cocked it to make sure she had a round ready.

"Jaune, you're up." Taiyang put the blonde forward.

His little girl probably knew a lot more about her team being their leader so she wouldn't learn much fighting them. The blonde knight though was another story. Records showed he tended to fight dirty and that was something to learn from. Why? Because there were a lot of ways to fight unfair and Ruby was naïve on it. Besides that, choosing Pyrrha would have made it one sided since there was also a record on what the champion's semblance was.

"Rules are first below seventy-five loses and its open field. Time duration is three minutes to save us some daylight." The blonde dad cited the limits. "We still need to spruce this place up so don't burn up all your energy on this."

Taking the two aside, the huntsmen decided to coach them before the match could begin. On Qrow's side, he was pumping Ruby up for the match. She was to go in fast and hard. The pep talk seemed to be doing her some good.

"You got it Uncle Qrow." She nodded, turning to glare at Jaune while her dad was giving him advice. "I'm not giving him a chance to pull out."

That just sounded wrong to Qrow in a lot of ways. Hearing it come out of Ruby's mouth just made it horrifying. And now he felt dirty once the images popped in. Now that he thought it over and squinted a bit, Ruby was the exact copy of her mom with only small differences while the Jaune kid was almost a spitting image of Tai. …He was going to need a _very_ strong drink from the image of the four having an orgy popped up. Seriously, what was wrong with him?

On Tai's side, he was coaching Jaune to try and use his aura for the spar.

"You had a grasp on it yesterday, but for this you need to try and bring it out faster." He told the young blonde. "Keep a focused mind and let it flow."

Getting a hesitant nod, the father walked back to the center of the camp where the two fighters would meet. This was both new to them for different reasons. Ruby's never fought Jaune when he used a bow and arrow, while Jaune's never fought a speedster like Ruby without a team. Now that they thought it over, this would be their very first spar together.

Hoisting his bow, Jaune readied himself to jump out of the way. No doubt Ruby would try to use her semblance to her advantage. Tripping her wouldn't do since she was used to controlling her speed.

"Begin!"

Once Taiyang shouted, Jaune quickly evaded a speedy tackle Ruby aimed for his chest. The speedster wasn't done though since she quickly turned around to charge at him once more. Seeing him crouched, she lowered her body for a push to get him in position for her scythe. Once she was near though, dirt was flung into her eyes blinding her for Jaune to clothesline her.

Darnit! With all that's happened, she forgot the knight played dirty. Rolling out of the way, she tried to clear the dirt out of her eyes.

 _Thwip!_

Hearing the sound of the bow strings, Ruby quickly rolled and sped through the camp half blind to avoid any arrows hitting her. Going behind a tree for cover, she cleared the dirt stuck in her eyes before Jaune could follow. Shifting her weapon into compact mode, she planned on challenging him to a long range fight. Bulets would always beat arrows any day of the week.

Using her speed once more, she zoomed circles around him to kick up some dust clouds. It was his turn to be blind. Going off into a tree, she waited for him to walk out of the dust with scope trained on the dust.

Jaune was having a hard time trying to pinpoint where Ruby was with all the dust she kicked up. The bow he had now was too noisy and would need to be replaced with something stronger and silent. Checking his scroll, they had a minute and ten seconds to finish this with him in the lead. But he wasn't going to start celebrating now. Once the dust cleared, chances were he was going to lose.

Maybe it was time to try what the speedster's dad told him. Concentrating, Jaune tried to put his aura in the strings of the bow. The arrow was what hit, but it was the string that held the strength that sent it. After seconds of not feeling anything, he gave up and decided to just go with what he had now.

Once the dust started to thin out, he heard a gunshot and quickly ran to not get hit. It was futile since Ruby was an excellent sniper. She didn't get him too badly, but a few rounds had grazed his arms and legs. It was thirty seconds before the match was over and she was now in the lead.

Hiding behind a tree, Jaune readied an arrow for at least a scare shot. He could hear her zooming from tree to tree. Ruby was being cautious now, and that meant she was feeling threatened. Peeking from his spot, he saw her on a branch with her red hood flowing in the breeze. Her gun was aimed at him, but she wasn't firing. Taking this chance he pulled his arrow back and fired at her.

 _Thok!_

He'd been had! The cloak was a decoy along with Crescent Rose. But if her cloak and gun was there, then where was-

"Gotcha!" Ruby shouted as she snuck up behind him.

Turning around, he was tackled at twenty-five miles per hour. As the two rolled back into the clearing, Jaune's aura was put at seventy-six while Ruby's was at eighty. Rolling to be on top, the blonde managed to put her arm in a twisted lock with her face in the dirt.

"Tap out Ruby." He gasped, driving his knee into her back to keep her from running. She was kicking his back with no damage registering to the knight.

"No!" She shook her head, not wanting to give up like this.

Trying to resist, she felt the dirt in her free hand and thought to go with the not so honorable. Grasping some loose pebbles and dirt, she closed her eyes and flung it over her head to where she thought Jaune's eyes were. She was off by a few inches, but the wind helped bring some small particles into his face.

Feeling his grip loosen, Ruby quickly pulled her arm free and reversed their positions to straddle him and deliver punch to his chin. The blonde knight felt it more as a love tap, but it was enough to drop his aura down to seventy-three.

"That's the match." Taiyang clapped for his daughter. "Ruby wins."

"Woohoo!" Ruby whooped while still straddling Jaune. It didn't help that she was bouncing a bit too.

The father was cringing a bit at the image in front of him, but he quickly relaxed remembering how awkward his daughter was. And the guy under her didn't look like he was thinking anything of it either. It probably had something to do with the fact he might have bit his tongue. Nothing to worry about – the kid's aura would heal it up nice.

"Nice use of decoy." The knight under Ruby commented, sliding up from underneath her.

Patting the dirt on his pants and back, he walked over to collect some of his arrows and the cloak pinned to it. The little reaper behind him followed to get her weapon back.

"Thanks." She smiled, getting a boost up to grab her sniper-scythe. "You're pretty cool with the bow and arrow. …Maybe upgrade it though."

"I'm thinking about it." The blonde shrugged, putting some of the used arrows back in it's stock. "When we get back to Beacon we could make a better one. Weiss opened my mind to the idea of dust tips."

Ruby gasped at the opportune chance to make something classic and adding something from the modern times. It was like Jaune brought her a bit of Christmas and her birthday in one. Now she couldn't wait to get back to Beacon!

"I'll hold you to that." She trembled with excitement. Her mind was filling up with different designs and what materials to use.

"If you two are done flirting, it's time for evaluation." Qrow butted in, getting both to blush a bit from the insinuation.

To the uncle, it really was like looking at a younger Summer and Taiyang back in the day – and it was nauseating. The sweet girl had the most obvious crush on the blonde, but his sister snagged him first. Savage. …Maybe drinking was killing his brain and causing him to hallucinate? Nah, he was fine. He just needed more booze to kill the demons showing in front of him.

"So how did we do?" Ruby asked the man who trained her in the ways of the scythe.

"I'd give Jaune a five out of ten." Her dad judged. "You're well balanced and know when not to charge ahead, but it's your aura control that needs work on. Without it, you won't be able to reach your full potential."

"Thanks." The blonde knight nodded, walking off to stand with the others.

It was now just Ruby standing before the two. After asking how she did, Qrow was the one to answer.

"For you, I give a seven." He rubbed his chin.

"That's not so bad." Ruby smiled at her score.

"Out of a hundred." Qrow added with a smirk, holding his laugh at Ruby's face. "Nice use of your semblance, but you wasted too many shots trying to get him. Good strategy in using your weapon as a decoy, but stupid when you don't have the physical strength to back it up in hand-to-hand combat. If this wasn't a spar, cowboy here could have snapped that arm in three. You got a seven when you decided to stop the bull on playing fair."

Rubbing her arm that was twisted, Ruby imagined someone not Jaune doing just that. Even with aura, a snapped bone was something to be wary of since it didn't heal fast like cuts and bruises.

"But you taught me about honorable fighting." Ruby pointed out, getting Qrow to pinch his nose.

"I taught you basics to advance techniques _of_ fighting." He corrected her. "You would have learnt more from me, but you got into Beacon early before I could teach you more. You need to remember that in the field, it's anything goes. No rules exist like in tournaments."

"But what if I become good enough to not use dishonorable methods?" She asked, not liking the idea of using dirty tactics. It worked now, but only because she wasn't strong enough.

Apparently both men didn't agree with her question. Her dad shook his head while Qrow rolled his eyes.

"It's arrogant to think like that. No one's ever good enough, kid." Her uncle muttered, placing a heavy hand on her head. "This isn't a fairytale. The bad guys aren't going to start spouting their evil plans and rant for you to have time for an escape. And they're not going to just be sitting around doing nothing until you arrive. At the end of it, there wont even be a hero's glory if you succeed. You're already suffering from it as far as we can see – even when you're hiding it so well."

Seeing his daughter's spirit about to be crushed, Taiyang thought it was best for him to take over. He hasn't been a father for a quarter of their lives, but he was going to make up for it with the rest of his.

"Ruby, I know you've been having trouble sleeping." He knelt down to her level. "You talk in your sleep and we hear it clearly."

Wrapping her in a hug, he felt her stiffen up at the revelation. Then he felt those same little hands around his back as they nearly failed to link together. She may have grown in body, but she was still that innocent little girl who wanted him to check under her bed for monsters.

"I keep hearing them crying for me to save them." She whispered, burying her head into her dad's chest. "I thought they'd stop, but they just keep getting louder."

The blonde father rubbed his daughter's back as she shared. Her mother was nearly the same when she witnessed someone dying in front of her. It was a little girl that got snatched by a Beowulf in their second year mission. Summer beat herself senseless for not being fast enough to save the child – and so did the girl's parents. She always woke up crying and begging for the voices to stop once they got back to Beacon.

He and Qrow weren't any help to her. Anything they said fell on deaf ears as she blamed herself for what happened. It got to the point his deceased wife even contemplated dropping out of Beacon to live a life as an ordinary waitress. In the end, it was Raven that got through to her.

' _Stop your bitching and get over yourself! Nobody cares that a weakling died except you.'_

' _So you want to drop out? Go ahead. With all your time sobbing on your knees, I bet you'd make a fine whore.'_

He still remembers the fight so well. His first wife easily stomped Summer down, but she'd always push herself back up until Raven apologized for her statements. And knowing Raven, getting an apology was as likely as their moon to reassemble itself. But at least Summer gained her respect.

' _So you do have some fight left in you. Instead of groveling at all your failures, why not make yourself useful and train? I don't care for the weak like you, but I refuse to have one in my team.'_

Looking back over the years, he guessed that was the raven-haired beauty's way of putting a fire back into Summer. The white-cloaked woman trained herself into the dirt until she was a match for Raven.

' _Just accept it and get better, huh?'_ He mused, patting his baby girl's back. _'Maybe it would be the same for her.'_

"Just accept what happened Ruby." Taiyang said after releasing her from their hug. "I know it's hard to swallow but that's all you we can do. Move on from our failures and learn from them to do better the next time."

"Will the voices go away if I do?" The silver-eyed girl asked, hoping she could sleep better soon.

"If it worked for your mom, it should for you." He shared, getting her eyes to widen.

"Mom went through the same thing too?" She mumbled, never hearing this about her.

The father nodded, realizing he's never shared any of his old stories with either of his girls. Talking about Raven to Yang was a sore topic for both of them, but they at least deserved to know about Summer – Ruby especially. At least Yang could still remember most of her time with her second mom but Ruby was still too young at the time to remember it all. Glancing back at Qrow, he gave look that the drinker understood.

"If you're taking her, then I'm taking blondie." He shrugged, getting a confused look from his old teammate. "Mr. Chaps."

Sooner or later the kids were going to try and hurt Qrow for his dumb nicknames, and Taiyang wasn't going to stop them. Turning back to his daughter, he patted her head to give her some comfort.

"Looks like you'll be tagging along with me today for some lumberjacking." He told her with a grin. "Think your scythe can cut down some of these trees?"

Wiping away a tear about to form, Ruby smirked as she shouldered her weapon. If she could cut down one of the trees in Emerald Forest with ease, then the ones close by weren't going to be a problem.

"While you guys are doing that, me and Mr. Chaps are going hunting for bigger game." Qrow broke their father-daughter moment. "I don't know about you guys, but the thought of eating fish every day isn't for me. I need some red meat, like a boar or some deer."

"Not a fan of birds?" The blonde dad quipped, getting Qrow to whip his head back to him. He knew the guy wouldn't say anything. If he did, then it means he was affected – and that meant Tai won.

Watching him walk off while dragging Jaune off to go hunt some bigger game, Taiyang walked to the others with Ruby in tow. The guy forgot to give the kids he was in charge of assignments.

"Ren and Nora, you guys are on patrol." He pointed to the silent boy and his partner. "Blake, Weiss, and Pyrrha. You three will be harvesting while doing patrols with Zwei. Yang, you're with Ruby and me. I need some extra muscle to carry back the lumber."

Getting their assigned roles, the groups went off to do their jobs. It was day two and while sleeping under the stars was nice, the bug bites were going to be a problem in the long run. The team would fix this abandoned place up nicely, and Taiyang would fix them in the process too.

 **In the forest**

Ruby and Yang were having a good sweat cutting down trees and rolling them off to the sides. It was a good thing the girls caught up to Jaune before they lost him for his axe. Punching trees was okay and all, but using the right tools made things less strenuous. It was also nice that while they worked, their dad would share stories of Summer.

"Mom was socially awkward too?" Ruby gasped, feeling like she was getting a whole other picture of her mom.

"She was a shy gal." Taiyang chucked, remembering how things started when team STRQ formed. "Drove Raven mad that the one leading the team wasn't her but a quiet girl like Summer. It didn't stop her from acting like she was the leader though."

Ruby could relate to that remembering how Weiss hated the thought of her being made leader. They worked through it though, and now Weiss was her best friend no matter how many times she denied it. …Although Nora was slowly coming close to second.

"What did she do?" Ruby asked after slicing down another tree. That made twelve so far. Another eight more would be enough to fix the cabin.

"Nothing for the first year." The dad told the girls while rolling one tree to the side. "She just let Raven take control. Then one day something happened that made Summer stand up to her."

Resting on a stump, Taiyang signaled the girls for a short break.

"She walked straight up to Raven, looked her in the eyes and said 'Hey! I'm the leader of team STRQ. Now say you're sorry!'" He continued. "You can guess what Raven did."

"She apologized and they became best friends?" Ruby said, thinking it was just like her and Weiss.

That got a small laugh out of the two blondes.

"Yeah right!" Taiyang hollered after wiping his brow. "She ran her into the ground over and over. Mind you, I was still dating Raven that time so I had to support her. I did feel bad for Summer though."

"Wow dad. Wow." Both his daughters gave him a disappointed look.

"I was young and stupid back then, okay?" He admitted, getting the two off his back. Didn't help that Summer would sometimes hold that over his head until they graduated.

Looking at his two daughters staring at him with mirth in their eyes, he couldn't help seeing the two women he loved most in the world in them. When he was a wreck he couldn't look at them without feeling a piece of him break every time, but now it was different. He couldn't stop feeling proud just seeing them together. Seeing them staring at him oddly, he asked what was wrong.

"You're crying." Ruby pointed to the tears he didn't know were leaking out.

"Looks like we'll need to get stronger if our old man starts crying out of nowhere." Yang smirked to hide a bit of her worry.

She wasn't fooling him of all people. Underneath all that tough act, he knew his oldest was a marshmallow. Getting off his stump, he put both hands on his girls' heads.

"Yeah, you two better get stronger." He smirked back, blinking the tears away. "Cry a bunch and keep growing. Maybe then you'll be able to beat your 'old man' in a fight."

They took enough time relaxing and now it was back to work.

 **With Jaune and Qrow**

After dragging the blonde out far enough where most game would be grazing, Qrow sat on a rock as he watched the kid get to work. The experienced huntsman saw deer tracks on their path and he didn't want to waste his ammo on good venison. Dust bullets gave a bad taste every time.

"I saw your little light show last night." He told the blonde as they walked the hills. "Impressive how you knocked yourself out."

"I wasn't trying to do that." Jaune mumbled, feeling inadequate on his control. "I only wanted to use my aura to get my sword back."

"I knew that much." The drinker chuckled. "Good job though. You don't suck as much as I thought you would."

"Gee, thanks."

How Ruby put up with him he did not know. He doubted the drunkard even knew what their names were. And Jaune could easily tell a drunkard by the old booze smell and cheap cologne.

"Any wise advice you can tell me on how to control it?" He asked, giving the guy a small chance. Maybe he could help him since he helped Ruby.

Stopping in his tracks, Qrow turned around to face Jaune. The non-caring face was gone to show a more serious mask. Despite the smell of the guy, he had the visage of a trained expert.

BURP!

And the knight's opinion was back to low. Maybe if he was fast enough, he could make it back to camp and trade places with someone else. …No. He'd feel guilty leaving any of his friends with this man. Then again, Yang and Ruby had experience living with him.

"Nevermind." The blonde walked past Qrow, wanting to get the hunt over with so he could get back to the others.

"You gotta stop fighting it." Qrow said all of a sudden. Turning around, Jaune saw the older man was being completely serious this time. "Last night, I could see you were fighting with your aura. It's not some muscle to flex around. It's a part of your inner being lead by your will and mental state."

Seeing the kid getting lost on it, Qrow tried to think of a way to dumb things down for him. Good thing he had experience with his blonde teammate and Ruby. Dumbing things down was second nature to him now.

"Your aura is controlled by your will and your mind." The man simplified it. Seeing Jaune not getting the whole picture, he thought of going way dumber. "It's like having an invisible hand help you. Ever notice how your friends could shift their weapons without touching any mechanism? That's their aura helping them."

And he saw the cogs in Jaune's brain turning. Next time he should lead with that. Maybe now he could use the more technical things.

"If you wanna pull your aura out, you need to want it." He continued, showing he could pull his aura out too like Taiyang did. "Accept it as a part of you because it is. Now try it out."

Nodding, Jaune tried to focus the aura flowing into his hand. He felt something as he kept trying. Seeing a spark of light, he kept at it until his hand was glowing from the light.

"Stop trying to force it and let it flow." Qrow instructed as he saw it flickering like last night. Seeing it die down, he blew a small raspberry at the short success. "You have some serious issues kid. Aura's a reflection of your soul and if anything – it shows you don't even believe in yourself."

"I'm trying, okay!" Jaune snapped, not wanting to hear any of it.

"Then keep trying." He replied back. "You can do it."

"I can't!" The blonde growled, losing his patience. "I still don't get it."

"Well what's the point of trying if you don't have the will to go all the way?" Qrow shot back. He wasn't mad, but if what his sister said was true then he needed him and his friends ready for what was about to come.

Having enough of Qrow, Jaune walked off on his own to get the hunt done and left the scruffy guy behind.

The drinker sighed as he just watched the kid walk off. This is why he didn't plan on getting kids of his own. They were great when they were toddlers below three. They had a belly sticking out, cereal in their hair, and they told broken stories that had you listening for the laughs. But once they got older they didn't want anything to do with you and gave off an attitude like what he saw. The worst part was that it was probably retribution since he was like that at his age too.

He'd have to keep an eye on him. Ruby and Yang would be pissed if they found out he left their friend to fend off alone.

 **Deeper in the woods**

"Stupid scruffy guy telling me I've got issues." Jaune muttered as he trudged through the bushes.

He had the will, but it was just hard. How was he even supposed to do this? The only time he could remember using his aura well was when he was getting beat up – and he wasn't planning on using that method.

' _You think you're tough? You think you're a big strong man?'_

He wasn't. Despite all the improvements he had, he still wasn't. He was still that same little boy watching the other kids from a tree. Balling his hands into a fist, he slammed it into a nearby tree. He was expecting pain on his end and maybe a hard impact – but he didn't expect for his fist to be buried deep into the trunk.

Pulling his hand out, the blonde saw it was glowing a bit.

"What?"

' _Aaw!'_

Flinching at the sound of a crow, Jaune looked up to see the bird of prey looking down at him. It was a big bird, but he doubted it would be enough for all ten of them plus Zwei. It was creeping him out though how it was just focusing on only him.

"Was this your tree?" The blonde asked, pointing to the hole he made in the tree. "Sorry about that."

The black bird's eyes never stopped gazing at him. Jaune wasn't one to be superstitious, but even he knew crows as bad signs. Walking away, he turned back to see the crow's eyes were still following him.

' _Aaw!'_

Hearing flapping of wings and the crow's cry once more, Jaune turned around to see it was now flying behind him. Stopping, he watched as it landed on a small rock beside him. This was getting strange for the leader of JNPR.

"What do you want?" He asked the bird. It might have been dumb talking to something that might not understand him, but since it was keen on following him it must have understood to some extent.

The crow turned it's beak to point to it's left. Flying to a high branch, it pointed to him and then in the same direction once more before cawing.

Feeling like it wanted him to follow it, Jaune complied. He didn't know why, but he felt following it was the right choice. At least this crow was better than the one that drank.

After a few miles, the blonde found himself in a different grassy plain with tons of hills. Looking up, the crow was circling a specific spot while cawing.

It was official. Jaune liked this crow more than Qrow. …He'd have to think of a better name to call it. Running to the top of a hill, he saw a herd of deer grazing. Just one would be enough to last them more than a week.

Sneaking his way to the grazing animals, the blonde pulled the string of his bow to shoot an arrow at the nearest one. The deer heard the strain of the bow and looked up to see him. Cursing his luck, he fired to try and get one before they started running but missed once they started sprinting. Running after one, Jaune spotted the crow trying to lead him.

It didn't fail him in finding the prey, so it didn't hurt to listen to it once more. Running after the bird, he ducked under branches and jumped over rocks as he tried to keep up with it. The forest was getting thicker and it was getting a bit hard to see with only a few rays of light spilling between the leaves the more Jaune followed the crow.

Hearing it cry to his right, the leader of JNPR turned to see light pouring from a clearing. Running towards it, he imagined finding himself back to the deer and some other game grazing by a river.

Jumping over a log, the feeling of adrenaline died down in him and was replaced with the sense of falling. He would be feeling that of course. He just followed stupid bird and now he ran himself off a cliff. The last thought he had before panic sat in was how he _really_ hated crows.

 **END**

 **AN: Story is over folks. Jaune is dead. Everyone grieves and move on since they couldn't find his body. Then Whitley takes his place and has a harem with Ren and his sisters included because he's awesome like that while using the Sharingan and Rinnegan to go balls deep in Goodwitch and Salem.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **BLEGH! Can't believe I typed that, let alone thought it. April Fools guys! I know it's late, but had to finish final exams and submit projects. (3D rendering is a bitch of time eater.) Here's the real authors note.**

 **AN: And Jaune just couldn't catch a break. Is it me or have I made it like he doesn't get that much of a win over anyone or anything in life? Sure he can push back, but it's like its short lived or come with a consequence on his part.**

 **It's the second day and the group lost someone. Wonder what that'll do to Tai's self-esteem. And will Jaune survive the fall? Of course he will, otherwise I just wasted my time building his character only to have him die like my starter in a Nuzlocke run. (Don't judge me! I'm playing the old versions and not the nice ones where people heal you before a fight.)**

 **In other news, I am now on break. No more teammates that bring me down, no more stressful sleepless nights (just the good sleepless nights), and no more teachers I think that were trying to bring me down (I seriously think one of my teachers didn't like me because of my group. :\ ) I have a momentary freedom to do what I want. Yay!**

 **No omake this time. I had this idea of the three girls awkwardly trying to have some type of conversation to have but without Yang around, it's like the ice wont be broken.**

 **This is Aloehisja saying hope you enjoyed and look forward to the next chapters and stories. Laters!**


	18. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

 **AN: Hey all you readers. The RWBY Metal Gear chapter is out. If you wanna read it, you know where its at.**

 **But enough on that, you came because I left a cliffhanger last time. Let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 17:** Lion Trial

Pyrrha Nikos felt something off as she walked with Blake and Weiss. It wasn't that she felt left out of the group. On the contrary, there was a pleasant silence between the three with the occasional chat that needed only a sentence or two. No, this was a feeling that something was wrong regarding her team.

Pulling out her scroll, she checked the aura levels of team JNPR and gasped to see Jaune's was in the yellow. Hearing her gasp, Blake and Weiss walked to her to see what was wrong. Showing them her scroll, their eyes widened.

"Call him to see if he's fine." Weiss urged her, wondering what could have happened to put Jaune in the yellow.

Nodding, Pyrrha speed dialed her partner and hoped he wasn't in the middle of combat. After just two rings, there was the automated voice message that his scroll was not in service or out of reach.

"Let's head back to the camp." Blake said. She heard the message too and was now worried for her friend. "Ruby's uncle was with him, so maybe he brought Jaune back to get healed."

Agreeing to her idea, the three dashed off to their campsite. The queasy feeling in Pyrrha's gut wasn't going away though as she felt something horrible happened to her leader and crush.

 **With Taiyang**

After dragging the last log of wood back, the father popped his back to get the sores out. It would normally take an average man days to get this done, but they were Hunters. Lifting things fifty times their weight was in their job description.

His girls were in the river cleaning themselves off and he was excited at the prospect of getting some fresh red meat when Qrow and Jaune would come back. Hearing a flutter of wings that turned into footsteps, the blonde dad turned around to see the ole drinker running up to him.

"Hey." Tai greeted him with a bit of cheer in his tone. "So how was hunting? Jaune dragging the game back?"

"What?" Qrow quirked a brow. "The kid's not here?"

That was unsettling to Taiyang. Qrow wasn't as careless with people as they thought, and Taiyang knew that. Feeling something was off; he dragged his old teammate to a secluded area far away from the camp.

"What the hell happened?" He asked Qrow. "I thought you said you'd be with him."

"I was." Qrow said defensively. "The kid didn't want anything to do with me, so I went flying to keep an eye on him. Soon I was helping him out to find some deer and we went chasing after them through the woods. The next thing I know he's not behind me anymore and I'm stuck in an open plain with live meat."

"Then where'd he go then?" The fatherly side of Taiyang showed. Jaune may not be his kid, but he along with the others was his responsibility along with his daughters while they were here with him.

"That's what I've been asking myself. I thought he ran out of breath and came back here." The uncle raked his hand through his hair. "If he's not here and not out in the forest, I don't know where he is."

' _Caw!'_

Looking up, the two men saw another black bird looking down at them. As it flew to the ground, it turned to Raven who was staring at them with a smirk. There was something unsettling with that smile on her face, and both men didn't like it one bit.

"Seems you two have lost something." She said.

Unknown to the three, someone was hidden in the bushes listening in on them.

 **Bottom of the cliff**

Jaune was in excruciating pain. Thank aura he wasn't a splatter on a tree. After falling down the cliff, he managed to grab hold of a branch but it wasn't that strong so it broke. It managed to lessen the impact, but the blonde hit a bunch more branches on the way down and landed on his shield arm. What was worse was that he thinks he banged his knee on a rock, which explained why it hurt to bend it.

Looking around, he didn't know where he was. It was darker than the forest he was hunting in and there was even a fog. Trying to get into a sitting position, his arm and leg hurt just from moving. Fishing for his scroll, the leader of team JNPR cursed to see it was shattered. Just his luck to land on it.

It was a good thing his pouch had a mini survival kit. It even had some supplies for minor first aid. And again, his time camping came in handy since he knew how to treat his wounds – didn't mean he'd like it though.

Taking a piece of wood, Jaune wrapped it in thick gauze and placed it in his mouth. His arm would be the first thing to fix. He needed both hands if he wanted to fix his leg.

From the feel of it, his shoulder was popped out of its socket. Just touching it as gently as he could was painful. His jaw crunched on the gauze wrapped wood in his mouth as he tried to put his hand behind his head. It wasn't the first time his shoulder was dislocated, but those times he had one of his sisters or his dad to help him – plus the injury was from falling off a horse and not dropping from a cliff. Tears welled in his eyes as he slowly worked through the pain. He managed to get his dislocated shoulder raised, and with a pop it was set in place. Reaching over with his good arm, he tried to massage it while rotating the now fixed arm.

"Hrrrrgh!" He screamed from the feeling. The wood in his mouth threatened to snap from how hard he was biting down on it.

It still hurt, but he felt his arm could move again. Rotating it to get it set properly, the blonde winced from all the popping and strain. It was trembling, but it was fixed for now. Now he wished he could control aura if it meant he could heal himself easily.

His leg was the next problem. Feeling around, his kneecap was popped. If Nora were here she'd make something about breaking legs. Trying to find some humor despite the pain he was in, he slowly moved the kneecap and worked through more of the pain until he felt it was fixed. Bending his leg, he winced from the feeling that it wasn't completely correct but massaged it to try and fix it.

 _Pop!_

He was safe for now, but his limbs were still aching and he didn't know where he was. He wasn't going to take any chances of lying around in his state though. The possibility of Grimm running to him was high and he was al one. Using the tree as a brace, he climbed himself onto his feet and winced from the feeling on his knee. Checking his med supply, he only had a sling for his arm and a few bandages left.

"Crap." He muttered, pulling his knife out and undoing one of his sleeves.

Cutting it off, he tied it to his leg but made sure it wasn't too tight to block of circulation. There was still pain, but it was bearable and made it easier for him to walk. Putting his arm in the sling, Jaune walked off to find a place that looked safe to wait for help.

"Shit!" He cursed once he went to pick up his bow. It was broken with only the quiver surviving and what looked like three arrows left. Now he was stuck in the wilds with just a knife.

Limping through the forest, he could hear Grimm and other creatures lurking around. He must have fallen into the deeper part of the woods that wasn't being guarded. The pain in his arm was receding and he was feeling a bit better, but he still needed to find his way back to the others. Maybe if he found a stream or a river he could follow it upwards. Feeling it was a good plan, the broken knight limped on with knife in hand. At least he still had his shield with him for defense.

 **With the others**

Everyone had regrouped and was sitting in a circle. They had a mission right now, and time was of the essence.

"Ren and Nora, I want you two to follow the river down stream." The blonde dad pointed to the two. "Chances are your friend might be headed there, so we'll see if we can meet him halfway."

Saluting, the two dashed off to try and find their leader. His aura was recovering, but it was still half full. Glancing at his partner, Ren nodded to assure her they'd get their leader back.

"Everyone else is with me." He looked to the remaining girls. "We'll be going deeper into the forests where the Grimm hide. Weapons out at all times and guards up. We'll be making noise to try and get Jaune to come to us, but we'll also be attracting Grimm."

"Where's Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked, looking around for him.

"He went on ahead of us." Her dad answered. "Now let's enough chatter. We've got a friend to save."

"Yeah!" Everyone shouted as they followed Taiyang.

Pyrrha and Ruby were close behind the father with Blake taking the middle. Lagging behind was Weiss and an unusually quiet Yang. Seeing the lack of spirit in the brawlers attitude, Weiss matched pace with her to ask what was wrong.

"It's nothing Weiss." Yang shook her head. Seeing the heiress still staring, she thought it was best to give at least something. "It's something personal, okay? I'm not comfortable sharing it yet."

After all, how easy was it to say you just met the person you've been chasing since you were a child? What more when the meeting wasn't as great as she hoped it would be.

 _Flashback_

" _What did you do?" Taiyang growled as he stalked over to Raven._

 _Unknown to him and the others, Yang was hiding behind a tree after getting cleaned up early. She had to hold herself back from running out once she saw Raven appear._

" _I did what you couldn't." Yang's carrier said as if she was in the right._

" _Raven I swear-!" Taiyang growled as he pushed her up against a tree. Pulling his fist back, he was going to punch her but held back seeing the challenging look on her face. "Where is he?"_

" _Far." The woman smirked while fixing her top. "If he's not too injured, he may just climb the cliff I dropped him from."_

 _That surprised both men and Yang._

" _You what?!" Both men snarled, edging close to her._

" _Lions throw their cubs off cliffs to see if they will climb back up. Something I think holds some value." She said with a solid glare. "The weak do not have place in this world."_

 _Instead of wasting his time talking with his sister, Qrow turned to Taiyang. "I'm going on ahead to search for the kid. If I'm lucky, I'll probably catch him before he gets into trouble."_

 _Raven threw him a smirk after he said that. If he was lucky indeed. Watching him rush off, she turned back to her late husband. The glare he was sending her was as fierce as she remembered. Too bad he wasn't like that all the time. He held weakness that made him soft. The same weakness she saw in her first born. And speaking of first borns…_

" _You can cease hiding behind the tree." She turned to where Yang stood hidden._

 _Feeling those red eyes piercing through the tree, Yang stepped out to face the woman she'd been chasing for so long. They looked so similar with the only difference being their eyes and hair color. Her heart was hammering in her chest to finally be standing in front of her._

" _Hello Yang." Raven greeted her._

" _Raaaah!"_

 _The blonde brawler didn't know what was happening. The very first thing she wanted to do after seeing Raven was charge at her to try and throw a left hook. Try being the word since the woman was elusive in dodging her like all her years not being a mother. Trying to get a kick to her leg, she fell flat on her butt as Raven kicked her other leg off balance._

" _Still not there yet." She shook her head. Turning back to Taiyang, she saw he was holding back from joining in the punching. "She's still sloppy."_

 _Getting off the ground, Yang patted the dirt off her backside to glare at Raven._

" _If glaring is all you wish to do, then leave us." The dark haired woman said without looking at her. "When you are ready, we have a lot to talk about."_

 _She would not cry. Yang spent many years searching for her and cried herself too many times now. She's grown up. She would not cry – not for the likes of her. Sucking in a deep breath, she turned on her heels and walked to the campsite. The others needed to know Jaune was in trouble._

 _End Flashback_

Yang couldn't believe she spent all her years searching for that. All those times she could have used spending time with Ruby and her dad more, training even harder to be better than what she was today; all of it was wasted chasing after that frigid dyke of a woman. She was done. Raven could go suck an egg for all she cared – she didn't deserve to have this sun dragon in her life.

It didn't mean it still hurt though.

"Everyone stop!" Taiyang called to the group.

They'd reached a cliff that had a drop nearly the same height as the one in initiation. Turning to the girls, he pointed to the vast forest below them.

"That area is Grimm territory." He told them. "Many hunters have gone in, but only few have returned. Research showed that the deeper you head in, the stronger the Grimm get. Jaune's probably somewhere down there, and we need to get to him out before night falls."

"Because it'll be harder to find him in the dark?" Weiss raised her hand.

Ruby and Yang's dad shook his head, wishing it was just that.

"There's been rumors from those that made it back from traveling in that there's a Grimm that only comes out at night." He said ominously. "I'm not one to believe things easily, but even rumors come from somewhere. We'll be going in twos down there to cover more ground, so if you find something I want you to shoot a signal into the air. Pyrrha, since you don't have a partner you'll be paired with Blake while Yang's with me."

Leaving no room for an argument, he turned fully to the cliff and got into a running position. "Everyone get your landing strategy ready. We'll be going in fast and going in loud!"

Charging forward, Taiyang jumped with great strength and turned back to see the rest had followed while sticking close to their partners. Yang was close behind him while using her shotgun blasts to gain some speed.

"Keep up old man!" She shouted through the air rushing past her as she overtook him.

Stepping up to her challenge, he straightened his body for a more aerodynamic approach. Important or not, he wasn't going to let his big girl out show him in style.

 **With Jaune**

"Crap, crap, crap!" Jaune shouted as he rolled out of the way from an Ursa's paw.

Just his luck he had to peek over a few bushes and bumped into an Ursa's behind. He managed to get a few stabs with his tanto, but those were just small and not so effective like his last Grimm kill. At least then he had his sword to get some big damage in before going for vital hits. What's worse is that his leg was still banged up so dodging was a bit slow.

The Grimm roared while standing on its hind legs as Jaune turned his back to get away. The longer he stayed in this forest and fought, the chances of him dying rose. It was best to hide and heal before trying to find that stream.

Running through the bushes, the blonde halted in his steps as he almost fell down a steep rocky slope. The pants of the Ursa chasing him were getting louder. Looking down once more, Jaune took his chance as an idea popped into his head. Opening up his shield, he placed it on the ground and sat on it.

"Just like toboggan sledding." He whispered in a panic, hoping it didn't end the same way as the other times. That being him face planting with a horrible skid.

Just as the Grimm's head revealed itself from the bushes, Jaune pushed himself down the slope and leaned back to get some balance. It was a bumpy ride and he'd almost fell off a few times, but so far so good. Once his leg healed up, he thought using his shield like this for a landing strategy would be something to look into.

Shifting his weight to steer the shield out of high rocks and dead trees, Jaune felt he was going to make it out of this. Sadly Murphy's Law had to rear its head as Jaune saw the end of the slope.

Good news is that he found the waters. Bad news was that he'd be falling into it from thirty feet. Worse news is that it was a raging river! Pulling his knife out, the leader of JNPR plunged it into the ground to try and use it as breaks.

"Come on!" Jaune gritted hoping he'd slow down in time.

Turns out his plan didn't work like it does in the action movies. Yes he was slowing down, but it wasn't enough to stop him from sliding and falling into the waters. Holding his breath, he prepared himself for the impact and curled into a ball in case of any rocks at the bottom.

 _Splash!_

The current was sweeping him away farther from where he wanted to go. His clothes were holding him down as they pulled water into them. While submerged, he quickly unclipped his armor and felt himself getting lighter. Trying to kick up, he felt his chaps were also pulling him down. Unfastening them, he tried to kick up once more while ignoring the pain in his healing leg. Floating to the top, he gasped for air as his head emerged. Looking to the skies, he saw a pink explosion shoot up into the air in the opposite direction of where the river was taking him. There was hope that his friends were looking for him. Trying to shout he found he was more exhausted than he thought, as he couldn't scream any louder.

He was now at the mercy of the rapid waters as it took him down river. Trying to fight it to not be pulled down under, a wave plunged Jaune under water once more where his head was smacked against one of the rocks. Passing out, the current took him deeper into the unknown wilds.

 **Nora and Ren**

"He'll be fine, right?" Nora asked Ren once more as they followed the waters.

She had ten more grenade canisters in her supply and she'd already shot two in the air to get Jaune's attention. He should've seen them by now and be running towards them. They encountered a few Beowulves, but they were easily taken down. It wasn't like they were facing a pack of Alphas.

"He will." The ninja said for the seventh time. He didn't mind her asking him repeatedly. It was also for his sake to keep the hope up that their friend would still be alive.

Ren would always have faith in his leader. Jaune may have been not much to glance at when they first started, but he'd improved so much and proved himself to the team time and again that he was worthy of being their leader. Getting lost wasn't something that would stop him and he'd always find a way back to the team.

' _But what if he doesn't?'_ A scared voice in his mind asked.

' _He'll be fine! I'm not thinking like that!'_ He argued with himself.

' _We've thought like that before of others and looked what happened.'_ The voice argued back, making Ren angry.

' _This is different! Jaune's trained. He can handle himself.'_ He shot back at the voice.

'… _He can't.'_

Just as Ren was feeling his head about to explode from his thoughts betraying him, he felt a hand squeeze his own. Nora saw he was close to losing it and pulled him out of the dark.

"Thank you Nora." He squeezed her hand in return.

He's never told her straight to her face, but Nora was the reason Ren hadn't broken down since their home was destroyed. She gave him a purpose to keep going strong despite the odds being against them. And now when he was falling into a dark place, she was picking him up.

"He'll be alright." He told her once more. He just had to believe it.

Walking what felt like a few kilometers, they came across a raging river. The sun was setting and there was still no sign of their leader.

"Should we camp out here?" Nora asked Ren.

Taking his scroll out, Ren messaged Pyrrha of finding nothing and got a reply back they were the same. After that, Taiyang put them into a group call where he told them to camp for the night and build a fire in case their friend was near them. He also warned them to be on to guard even of things seemed quiet.

Putting his scroll away, Ren turned to Nora who was making her own giant bonfire. He wouldn't fault her on it this time. The bigger the fire, the better chance of Jaune seeing them.

' _If he even still is alive.'_ The dark voice in his mind reared its ugly face once more.

Ren ignored it. Jaune was going to be safe. He believed it for his and Nora's sake. Sitting by the fire with Nora, this took him back to their time as kids when they were still traveling as orphans. Judging from the sad smile on her face, she thought the same too.

"We've really made it." She said to him while gazing into the flames. "We've come so far, haven't we Ren."

"We have." He agreed, inching closer to her. "A lot has changed."

Coming to Beacon, they thought things would be extremely different and they were right. They got to eat three times a day and not worry if there'd still be enough for the days to come. They didn't have to peek over schools to try and overhear some of the lessons being taught. They could even walk around the streets with their heads held high and money in their pockets to spend.

"One thing still hasn't changed." Nora muttered, leaning on Ren's shoulder. "It's still Nora and Ren against the world. Only now it's more of Nora and Ren in team JNPR against the world."

The ginger sitting next to him was right on that. They were still partners through and through. But just to make something clear with her…

"It's _Ren_ and Nora." He smirked, getting her to stare at him. "It sounds better with my name going first."

That got him a shove in return.

"Yah right!" She giggled. "The captain's name goes before anyone else's and that's me."

Chuckling at her ego, he let her have it. By the time night came, Nora took the first watch while he rested. She was hyped up on berries and other food they snagged from the supplies along with a few they found following the river. In a few hours, it'd be his turn to take watch anyways.

 _ **Ren's Dream**_

" _Where am I?" The ninja said as he was in the dark._

" _Little Lie." That voice._

 _Ren spun around to see his mother waving at him. The darkness surrounding them disappeared to show they were in his old village._

" _M-mom?" He gasped, walking up to her. When he reached his hand out to touch her, he saw his hand was smaller. Running to the pond, he saw his reflection of that when he was a child. There was the lotus floating in the same spot._

' _It's that day.' He thought, feeling he should be somewhere._

" _What are you doing over there?" His mother rubbed his head. "Your father will be here soon."_

 _He had to get them out of here. He needed to save them._

" _Mom, let's run!" He pulled on her arm. "We have to go now!"_

 _Instead of heeding him, she giggled and handed him some money. Why wasn't she listening to him?!_

" _Take this and go buy something for your father."_

 _It was playing out just like it did the last time! He needed to…_

 _Nora! Dashing off, Ren ignored the stalls of people to find his friend. He'd do things differently. He wouldn't run!_

" _Where'd she even get that?" A boy taunted a little girl with orange hair. "Did she steal it?"_

 _There she was. Dirty and pail with moldy bread in hand._

" _Eew, it's covered in mold." One of the other kids said, reaching over to grab it. "Ow! She bit me!"_

 _Once the boy pushed Nora, Ren marched over to stop them. Screaming, he charged ahead to punch the boy but found he was being held back. Turning to the person trying to stop him, his anger dropped to see the tall figure of his father looking at him._

" _What is going on here?" He scolded them with authority in his tone. The moment he asked that, the kids bullying Nora ran off with Nora running in the other direction._

" _Wait!" Ren called to Nora. He could protect her. Giver her a home and food._

" _Is she a friend of yours?" Li Ren asked his son._

 _Nodding in his presence, Li looked to where Nora ran off and then to his son. "Let us invite her to dinner then."_

 _Things were changing! Feeling tears well up in the corner of his eyes, Ren hugged his dad's leg and felt the strong arms engulf him._

" _I'm so proud of you son." He heard his dad whisper into his ear. "You acted despite being scared."_

" _Now come." He straightened up. "I am sure your mother would want you both to take a bath before we eat."_

 _Nodding, Ren grasped his father's hand as they went to collect Nora. Things were going to be different._

 _ **Ren's House**_

" _I've returned." Li called out to his wife._

 _The loving mother was there to greet her husband back with their son and a new face behind his legs. Seeing the question in her eyes he introduced their son's friend._

" _This is Nora." Ren's dad introduced the little girl. "Our son made friends with her and he wished for her to join us tonight."_

 _Seeing how dirty she was, Ren's mom knew she was homeless. Her motherly instincts couldn't bear to just ignore someone her son had befriended live in such a state. Kneeling down, she reached down a hand to the ginger and waited as Nora slowly placed her hand in hers._

" _Welcome home Nora." The teary smile Nora had was infectious as Ren started tearing up too. Soothing the girl, she turned to her two men. "Dinner should be ready soon. Be sure to wash up you two."_

 _Looking down to Nora, she nearly gushed seeing those turquoise eyes staring at her innocently. "You too Nora dear. I will personally help you clean up after them."_

 _Walking inside, Ren joined his father as they bathed together. It was embarrassing for the little boy as his dad would tease him on his feelings for Nora and how many children to expect in the future. After the talk went on to what would happen if they adopted her, Ren didn't know if he was turning pink from the bath or from his dad._

 _After stepping out, the commotion of an excited Nora being bathed by his mom filled him with some laughter. The splashing could be heard clearly from the kitchen as his mom would try to get Nora to stay still. After that, dinner became something as they tried to teach Nora how to use utensils and not just her hands._

" _Can Nora sleep here tonight?" Ren asked his parents after everything was put away._

" _I don't see why not." Li shrugged, turning to his wife._

"… _I have always wondered what it would be like to have a daughter." She mused, looking at Nora as she tried to wipe some of the spoons. "She can stay as long as she likes."_

 _Hearing the two agree, Ren excitedly turned to Nora who looked at him. As they hugged and jumped in excitement, Ren felt there was something important he needed to do but couldn't remember what it was. He brushed it off as he couldn't stop feeling happy._

" _It's time to go to bed you two." His mom told them while pointing to the room._

 _Guiding Nora to his room, Ren made space for her and offered one of his pillows to use. Getting tucked in by his mom, she gave them both a kiss goodnight and shut the door._

 _ **Middle of the Night**_

 _Little Lie felt around in his sleep for his friend. Feeling she wasn't next to him, he got up to see his door was open and the whole house was dark. Walking out, he saw his mother and Nora huddled together in the hallway looking scared._

" _Ssh." Nora trembled while pointing upward._

 _After a rumble, Ren saw things in slow motion as the ceiling fell on his friend and mother._

" _NO!" He shouted, running over to pull the debris off them. His hands felt bigger once more and he remembered what he needed to do – but he was too late! Digging some more, the sight before him shocked him to his core._

" _P-Pyrrha?" There was Pyrrha under the rubble clutching Nora close to her. "No no no no no no!"_

 _Feeling for a pulse, he fell to his knees when there was nothing. Turning to Nora, he tried to shake her and check for breathing but found nothing._

" _What is happening?!" He shouted to the skies._

 _Running out, his village was being overrun with Grimm. He's seen it happen already. Hearing the sounds of arrows being shot, he turned to his right to see a figure hidden by smoke firing at the oncoming Grimm._

" _Father!" Ren shouted, running to him. He could help. He was strong and could fight the Grimm. He knew how!_

 _Reaching him, Ren stopped to see it was Jaune shooting arrows into the smoke. This was so very different to the ninja._

" _Ren, what are you doing here?" Jaune shouted at him. Pulling out the red tanto Ruby made for him, he gave it to Ren and went back to shooting the Grimm. "Take this and go find Pyrrha and Nora. Protect them at all costs!"_

 _Ren's heart clenched at the order given to him. He couldn't do that. Not anymore._

" _Jaune." He whispered, holding the knife out for Jaune to take back. "They're dead."_

 _His leader stopped firing arrows and turned to him. Ren couldn't look him in the eyes – not after failing so badly._

" _Oh." The blonde said with no emotion in his tone. "I-I see."_

" _Jaune?" Dropping his bow and arrow, the blonde opened his arms and closed his eyes as dark hands shot out from behind and pulled him into the smoke. "JAUNE!"_

 _Picking up the bow and arrow, Ren fired a shot into the smoke and heard that roar that haunted his past. Glaring at it, he ran into the smoke to confront the Grimm but felt himself being pulled down. He was sinking into the ground and felt like he was drowning. He couldn't breath!_

 _All the while, he heard Nora calling out to him. But that couldn't be. She was dead._

" _Ren!"_

 _ **End Dream**_

"REN!" Nora shouted as she clung onto him. His head was submerged in the water and he wasn't moving.

Opening his eyes, Ren flailed around at the new surroundings he was in. It was still dark, and he was with Nora floating down the river for some reason.

The last he remembered, he was sleeping by the river and not in it. How was it he didn't even notice he was in the river to begin with?

"About time you woke up!" Nora splashed him to get him at full attention. Nothing like a cold splash to the face to get a guy going.

"Where are we?" He asked, seeing that they were floating with the current.

"Where do you think?" Nora motioned to the water around them. Looking her over, the ninja saw she was cut and had a bruise on her cheek.

"Nora, what happened to you?" He asked in worry.

"Grimm." She said simply while wading over to him. "Something happened to you while you were sleeping. You wouldn't wake up and some weird Grimm surrounded us. I tried to fight them off, but they were targeting you mostly. You looked like you were having a bad dream with how much you were twitching. It made carrying you a challenge."

All the while she was explaining things, Ren tried to imagine it all. His nightmare must have brought the Grimm towards them, but why was he having one now? He hasn't thought of that day in a long time.

"Are you okay?" He asked his partner, seeing a spot on her head was healing. "You look like you were beaten down badly."

"These things?" She pointed to the bruises. "No, these weren't from the Grimm."

' _Oh thank goodness.'_ He sighed in relief, happy she wasn't hurt too badly.

"One of them was from you." And he felt guilt drop in his gut. "You were flailing around so much one of your fists caught me. It's okay though."

' _It was not okay.'_ He thought, never one to hurt his friend. "What about the rest?"

"We fell." She said simply. Pointing upward, Ren followed her finger to show the thirty-foot drop they came from. "Those Grimm were relentless in chasing us. It wasn't until we fell down river that it stopped following."

Looks like they were both having an adventure. This also put some perspective into Ren about sleeping in this area of the forest though. They'd both have to be careful when sleeping out here.

"So what do we do now?" Ren asked his partner who was floating on her back.

"Beats me." Nora shrugged, using this time to catch her breath. She was pumping it for hours trying to fend the Grimm off and keep hold of Ren. She can bench ten of herself, but multitasking took a lot out of her. "I'm pooped."

It looked like they were just going to follow the river then. It was a good thing their scrolls were waterproof otherwise calling in would be a challenge. Looking at Nora as she stared at the stars above them, Ren never noticed how cute she was with the moon glowing on her face.

' _But we're not together-together.'_

There was that too. Sighing, he waded closer to her and joined her in lying on his back. They hoped wherever the current took them it might be to their leader or to their friends. Although something did bother him…

"…Nora? Where are our weapons?"

"Uuuuh…"

He knew they were floating too easily. Well, at least they had each other. They've survived without weapons before, and they could do it again. Only this time, they were a lot stronger than before.

 **END**

 **AN: Le gasp! Ren and Nora getting screen time and not just one line or two? Yes, yes I did. Truthfully I don't know the name of Ren's mom, but I remember his dad's name is Li (none can forget the almost Hanzo.) Like this story, Fragments (both gaidens) don't have a specific schedule. I do more than just writing so a chapter will come up when it does.**

 **Regarding Ren having that sweet dream turning into a nightmare, yes it was from a Grimm. More will be revealed on it later and yes, the Grimm in the area will affect the others too. I still wonder how Ren and Nora and kids survived for so long and wound up getting great weapons. Maybe they stole from people and saved up to buy weapons, or they became a street-performing act, which explains Nora's bubbly attitude. But since there's been nothing on that yet, I'm just going with what I think might have happened.**

 **To those of you that called it that Raven was the one that pushed Jaune down the cliff, you get a cookie that says 'Called It' in chocolate syrup. Next upload will be Fragments and I'm going to make it so both gaidens get updated at the same time.**


	19. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

 **AN: Hey there readers. Another RWBY + J coming at you guys. Last chapter there were some feels and a deeper look into Ren's psyche. For now, let's get to the others and see how they're handling their sleep.**

 **Chapter 18:** Sound of Fear

It was the sound of chainsaws that woke Jaune from his sleep. He was washed ashore near the shallow side of the rivers with a now bleeding head and half naked with no armor. The only thing he had on him now was a tanto and a few arrows that didn't get washed away. Trying to move his legs, he was relieved that at least something healed properly. His aura must have healed him while he was unconscious – small miracles.

Bad news though, he was cold, lost, and had little to protect himself with. It was okay though. He remembered seeing Nora's bombs flying in the air, so his friends were looking for him. All he had to do was follow the river back up and chances were he'd run into them. Getting on his feet, he felt wobbly with a splitting headache. Looked like the bump was worse than he thought. Cutting another piece of cloth from his shirt, he made it long enough to tie it tight around his head. The compression helped stop the pain, but there was the constant throbbing of his head that made it hurt a bit.

Walking into the woods, he looked to the trees and found a good spot high enough to sleep in. He's never heard of Grimm climbing into trees before, so his chances of being safe were a bit high. Feeling he was high enough, he relaxed on a branch and decided to rest a bit. He wasn't going to take a chance sleeping while bleeding from the head, but catching his breath and relaxing his body would help. Above his head, he found a nice thick branch that was slim enough for his hands. Using the tanto, he cut it off and whittled at it. He's watched Pyrrha enough times to get the idea of how to use a spear. Looking at his stock, he had three arrows, a knife, and a wooden spear. Not much to go on but if he played his cards right, he'll be able to make it out of the forest and back to his friends.

As a breeze blew on him, his still damp shirt and undies reminded him how cold the night was. Since the chances of the others finding him so quick were slim, he stripped off the items and wrung them to dry on another branch. Now completely naked, the feel of the wood under him along with the barks sticking to his skin felt a bit itchy. Looking below him, he found no sight of Grimm. Slowly climbing down, he gathered dry leaves and any sticks close by. Feeling he had enough, he got back up to the branch he was on and carefully made a sturdy bedding to place the leaves on his shield. Taking two of the sticks, he tried to make a fire by friction. Carefully blowing small streams of air, he managed to get some smoke going and fed some dry leaves to get the small flame started. By the time the fourth stick was placed in, the fire was going nicely and Jaune was warm. As the fire continued to dry his body, the snapping of a twig drew his attention.

Looking around with spear in hand, the blonde scanned the ground below for any Grimm. The next thing he knew, the fire he made blew out and a loud screech invaded his ears with something blowing in his face. Falling to the ground, the blonde growled while looking for the Grimm that roared in his face. But the next sound that came wasn't of a Grimm's cry – it was the sound of a chainsaw.

 **With Ruby and Weiss**

"Weiss!" Ruby cried to her partner who was writhing around.

"Get away!" The heiress cried while swinging her weapon around.

Ruby didn't know what happened. She went off into the bushes to take care of some business while Weiss slept, the next she came back to see her partner screaming in her sleep. The moment Ruby woke her up though, Weiss went crazy while still screaming. She went floundering for her weapon while shooting different types of dust in every direction.

"Get away!" Ruby's partner continued to shout. With one more swing, red dust was shot out that engulfed the area close by on fire.

As the trees and fields were blazing, Ruby heard the cry of a Grimm that jumped out of the shadows. It looked similar to a tapir with a bone plate mask and a trunk that had spiky hairs on it. It ignored the two girls as it tried to blow out the fires with its trunk. After the fires were dealt with, it set its eyes back on Weiss and screeched louder. The sound was too loud for both girls they fell to their knees and covered their ears in pain. Opening their eyes again, the tapir Grimm was gone but a new problem faced the leader of RWBY.

Weiss was gone and the fires were back once more. Picking her weapon back up, Ruby went to look for her while keeping a close eye for the Grimm.

"Weiss!" She shouted her name. Shooting a shot into the air for anyone close to see, she continued to walk on in search of her partner. "Weiss!"

Hearing whimpering, Ruby followed the sound. It could be her partner. She must have been spooked or afraid being alone in the dark. Hearing the noise getting louder, Ruby felt she was close. Walking behind a tree, she saw a hole inside big enough for a person to hide in.

"Weiss? Is that you?" She asked, reaching a hand in to grab her partner. As her hand got close, a pale grimy hand snatched hers and squeezed it tight.

Screaming at the hand that wasn't her partner's, Ruby pulled her arm back to see the dead woman in her dreams with baby in hand!

"Why didn't you save us Ruby?" The woman cried, the wails of her baby starting and getting louder. Behind her, more corpses walked out of the Atlas soldiers, innocent civilians, and even some of the faunus in the Breach.

"You killed us!" A faunus cried, blood flowing from his eyes. "I had a wife and kids!"

"I'm asleep again!" Ruby tried to shake her arm off the woman. "I need to wake up."

Pinching herself and going so far as to punch herself in the nose hard, Ruby's whole body ran cold. She was wide awake – and this was really happening.

 **With Blake and Pyrrha**

"It hurts!" The cat faunus groaned as she pulled on her cat ears.

The ringing wouldn't stop after she heard a loud screech. Cracking an eye open, she saw Pyrrha wasn't fairing any better. The poor girl was in fetal position while crying in agony. Their fire was blown out by something, but with her night vision, she could see something lurking in the bushes. It was watching them with red eyes narrowed. Forcing herself up, she tried to go towards it with weapon in hand but stopped when her visions started blurring.

"Blake." A masculine voice whispered, causing the cat faunus' ears to stand up in fear.

Turning around, Blake saw the last person she'd ever want to see walking towards her with red blade in hand. She lost sight of Pyrrha and the Grimm. All her thoughts were on why _he_ was here and how far would she have to run to get away from him.

Backing away slowly, she ran as fast as she could. She heard him shout for her not to run but continued anyways. The sounds of him following her were apparent by the leaves rustling behind her and his panting of breath. He didn't come alone though – there were grunts around the forest trying to grab at her and swing with their weapons, but she blindly retaliated. Swinging her weapon, she managed to cut a few down and managed to disarm most of them. Glancing back, she saw _him_ mercilessly cutting any of the grunts that were in his way.

This was why she left the White Fang. He was a cruel monster who didn't care about them anymore. And everyone was so blind to not see it – everyone but her.

Shifting her weapon into gun mode, she sent a few shots to slow him down but cursed when he just brushed them off easily. She was too afraid to shout for help, but in a desperate attempt she shot a few bullets into the air in hopes someone form her team would see it.

Continuing to run, she felt herself slowing down as if something was pulling her back. Turning back to see if Adam was getting closer, she screamed to see he was holding his hand out to her while she was being pulled towards him. She grabbed branches and trees to try and stop herself from being pulled towards him, but it was useless.

Feeling it was pointless to run now, she did what any cornered mouse did when there was no escape – bare her fangs.

 **With Taiyang and Yang**

The trained huntsman should have known this was the monster lurking the forests and causing this much trouble to travelers. Holding the tapir Grimm up against the tree, he watched as it struggled to get free from his iron grip.

Baku – a rare and lower class Grimm only found in certain areas. Some people thought they were a myth, but here was one in his hand. The bugger thought it could try to sneak up on him and his daughter while she was sleeping. Too bad he raised a girl who constantly tried to constantly sneak out under his nose. As the stupid thing screeched in his face, he narrowed his eyes at its attempt to scare him.

He knew about its special skills. Its screech was capable of causing disorientation in the people who heard it. Coupled with the nearly invisible mist it shoots out of its nostrils to cause hallucinations of fear and you have yourself a nightmare sandman.

"Nice try." He muttered, snapping the thing's neck in his hand. As it started disintegrating, he cracked his neck and shook of the feeling of despair and fear. "I've had to face my nightmares for years way before I met you. I'm over it."

Hearing a whimper behind him, he remembered Yang was still near to be affected. "Yang!"

Rushing to her side, he heard her muttering in her sleep while tears fell from her eyes.

"Come on baby girl, its all a dream." He tried to smack her awake. Shaking her, he saw her semblance acting up. "Fight it Yang! Come on!"

Looking up, he saw two shots being fired in the air. Looks like trouble came to Ruby and her friend's way. Cursing he tried to force her awake, but she was just burning brighter.

"Why?" She muttered in her sleep, tears starting to flow out as her eyes slowly opened.

This was not good. Taiyang could tell what must've happened. Sometimes fear could push people around, but when pushed too far the end results became devastating. Because once fear was gone there was one more thing to take its place – rage.

"Why don't you love me!?" Yang shouted with eyes burning red. The surrounding area was soon engulfed in flames. Yang was a literal walking fireball and was now on a blind rampage.

Calling out to her, the father managed to get her attention but it wasn't a good thing. The look in her eyes showed she didn't know who she was looking at. All the berserker saw was a figure, and that figured morphed into the shape of the person she was angry at – Raven! Seeing her stomping towards him with fists clenched, he knew what was going to go down.

"Raaah!" Yang roared, ready to continue what she started early in the day.

This time though, she wasn't just going to sock Raven in the jaw – she was going to snap her neck!

Jumping out of the way, Taiyang cursed when he patted down his burning sleeve. He was being influenced by the mist too, so he couldn't trust himself to hit his daughter. Last he remembered, the mist wore off after a few hours but to quickly get rid of it one needed water. Luckily, he had a canteen of water strapped to his side.

Dowsing his face first and sucking in the water into his nostrils, he felt the waters go up into his head to the point it stung. Exhaling the water out, he felt a little lightheaded, but the feeling of fear was gone. Good thing too since the illusion of bloody Summer hovering by his side was getting hard to ignore. Now all that was left was to subdue his raging daughter and help the others before they got themselves killed. From the looks of things, all the negativity was pulling Grimm towards them. Or more specifically, it was pulling it towards Yang who was beating them down faster than they could appear.

On one hand Tai could just let her punch them all out until she got over her tantrum, but he feared she'd put herself into an early heart attack if he let her keep going. Punching his way past the remaining Grimm, he managed to get to his daughter who was roaring a storm while beating anything near her. Good thing he knew her patterns so well when angry, since it was a simple duck, weave, and splash to get her sputtering from having water thrown in her face. Just to make sure it was all out of her he splashed once more to be sure. After she started coughing and the fires died down, he knew he got his daughter back.

"Dad?" She gasped, looking around to see fire and dying Grimm. "What happened?"

Releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, Taiyang gave her a quick run down of what happened. After that, he gave her instructions to look for her partner who he could guess might be in the same situation they were just in. Facts about Baku: they are nocturnal, shy away from the light, are easy to kill, and are territorial. He'd put money that there were other Baku roaming around, and they were unlucky enough to step into their turf. Giving Yang some cotton to stuff in her ears, he instructed her on being careful not to be sucked into any illusions.

"The bullet shots I saw were further that way." He pointed in the direction going to the mountains. Looking to where the other bullets were fired, he saw a fire was growing and knew it was a forest fire by the amount of smoke rising. "I'm going off to see those flames. It wouldn't do to burn this forest down."

"Be safe old man." Yang gave a two-finger salute while running off.

That should've been his line. They were really stepping into the frying pan now. But if they were in Baku territory stocked on weapons, how was the unfortunate knight faring on his own?

 **With Jaune**

It was maddening. Jaune was running through the forest naked and afraid trying to escape his ghost. The chainsaw kept blaring and behind him, Grimm followed with the intent to kill him.

He was in such a panic he forgot his shield up in the tree. The only thing he remembered to grab was the wooden spear he made, but against all those Grimm and the ghost of Banesaw, it was like bringing a toothpick to a sword fight. Jumping over logs and turning over rocks to slow them down a bit, he looked back to see they were still following him.

Quickly climbing a tree, he tried to hide in its leaves in hopes to lose them. That was foolish of him since ghosts didn't need to follow the laws of physics. Banesaw started flying up towards him and was floating in front of him now trying to grab at him.

Swinging his spear, Jaune tried to shoo him away but cried in grief when his spear was pulled away from him. As the ghost stood on the branch he was on, the blonde moved back to stay away from him.

"Come with me." He heard the ghost whisper.

Instead of complying, Jaune jumped to the next branch. The thing was thick and sturdy, but by some stroke of bad luck it broke once he landed on it. Tumbling to the ground, he felt his once healed shoulder dislocate once more. Looking up, there was a Grimm staring down at him with hateful red eyes. It roared in his face and some sort of scent was mixed in with its breath.

Rolling out of the way, he narrowly missed as his spear was impaled into its neck. Looking up, he saw Banesaw looking down on him form his branch. Quickly taking his spear back, he continued to run away from the ghost. He needed to make it back to the others.

He didn't make it that far though since the ghostly lieutenant caught up to him and gripped him by his dislocated shoulder. Crying in pain, Jaune gritted his teeth as he was pushed to the ground with his head in the leafy soil.

"Hold still!" The ghost grunted as Jaune tried to struggle underneath him.

For a ghost, it had a horrible stench. Wiggling a bit more, Jaune was able to get free despite the pain. The lieutenant wasn't letting him go that easy though since his arm was still in his grip. With one swift tug, the naked blonde's arm exploded in pain that soon turned to relief.

With his arm now put back into its socket and adrenaline pumping into him, the leader of team JNPR was now in a literal fight or flight scenario. And since running from his ghost wasn't working, he may as well fight it. Returning the grip, Jaune pulled the ghost to see if it was able to take a punch.

 _Pow!_

The good news was that yes: the ghost could take a punch. Bad news: It wasn't in the good way for Jaune. Besides the fact Jaune could punch a ghost, it didn't help when said punch didn't even hurt the ghost one bit. It literally took the hit and was still gripping his arm! It just swatted his fist away after it made contact with his head and cracked its neck.

"Are you done?" The ghost taunted, dragging Jaune by his feet. "It's time to go."

Looking to where he was being dragged, the blonde saw the gates of hell ahead of him. Worst part was that there were tons of people waiting for him wearing White Fang masks and deformed to look like Grimm. Struggling to get free from the grip, Jaune screamed and kicked at the ghost to slow him down.

He could hear them taunting him – telling him he was worthless. It was getting to his head now. The voices wouldn't stop as they got louder and suffocating. It wasn't scaring him anymore though – it was making him very angry. He just wanted it to all go away! If he was going to be dragged into hell by the person he killed, he may as well make sure he made them all know he put up one _hell_ of a fight doing it.

…Yang might've liked that pun.

Jumping on the back of Banesaw, Jaune proceeded to wail on his head and choke him out as they dove into the gates. He's already killed the guy once – what's another suffering going to hurt, right?

 **With Yang**

"Crap." Yang cursed, seeing the trail of destruction.

This was definitely the work of Blake and Pyrrha. Compared to her mess of burning down the forest in a mile radius, it looked like a typhoon hit where she was walking. A typhoon that had sharp blades and bullets that is. Some of the trees were now stumps with a few disintegrating Grimm still left behind.

Following the trail even further, she found them. But the sight before her was not something to be happy about. Then again, how was one supposed to react when you see both of your friends in the middle of deadly combat with a few Grimm trying to get in? It's like they were fighting each other and the Grimm were just there to make things worse.

Yang knew her partner was strong, but she didn't know she was this strong though. Looking at the fight while killing off some of the Grimm around them, she saw Blake perform moves she's never done in school. This was a whole new side of her partner and it looked like she wasn't holding back anything. She was impressed and a bit disappointed that Blake was hiding that side of her, but at the same time scared since Pyrrha was also going for the kill!

The redhead was aiming for the vital areas to stab like the neck and heart! Blake wasn't any different by aiming to choke the champion with her weapon and shooting at the head. It was crazy to Yang seeing them act like this. What were they seeing that was making them go crazy?

In Pyrrha's vision it was that woman in front of her. The very same woman that killed the two guards in front of her and Ruby during the dance. Those amber eyes and that black hair! The black clothes and that dark weapon! She was right in front of her and she was smiling with blood on cheek.

She had to be stopped. If she didn't stop her, more people would die! She couldn't fail. Aiming for the throat, she missed as the woman moved out of the way. Pulling up her shield she blocked a strike to the heart and jumped out of the way as the killer tried to get behind her and choke her. She was fast, but the metal on her weapons gave her away and made it easy to feel where she would be. Shifting her weapon into gun mode, she fired off some shots to kill but gritted her teeth by how elusive this woman was. She would have given Blake a run for her money with how agile she was.

On Blake's side, she was going to end this once and for all. This redheaded bastard wants to take away everything she cares for? Well he had another thing coming! She didn't care if she was going to kill someone that was an important person of her past. This man was a monster and he needed to be put down fro good. This wasn't just for her either. This was for the good of both human and faunus! The world would be a better place without Adam Taurus.

Killing him was easier said than done though. It was like he knew where she was going to be at all times so sneaking up on him wasn't going to work. She'd find a way though. One way or another, Adam will die!

Trying to get to the two fighting girls was a battle on its own for Yang. With all the damn negative vibes the two were sending off one another, they were practically a beacon for Grimm to come at them. It was driving Yang into a panic just to try and get near them with how they were constantly moving too. It just had to be her luck to go after the more experienced fighters next to her. Like seriously! It just dawned on her Blake is practically guerilla trained and Pyrrha is an all rounder champion fighter. At some point, one of them is going to drop and Yang didn't want to see the end result with how crazed they were looking now. Good thing Yang had something planned for them.

It wasn't the brightest since she was purposely taking hits from a ton of Grimm, but this was going to need at least a small sonic boom to get those two to stay still for a bit. Then again, it might also kill the remaining Grimm if she was lucky enough. After getting a heavy swipe from an Ursa Major, she felt that was enough hits. Taking aim at the two fighting, she sucked in a deep breath until her lungs were filled and put all her power into the mother of all super claps.

THOOM!

Yang was forever dubbing her move the thunderclap after seeing the damage she just made. Forget the typhoon Pyrrha and Blake just made; she nearly uprooted most of the trees around her and blasted the Grimm away! Looking around for her two friends, she found them pinned to an oak tree with hair frazzled and in disarray. Good thing their aura was there to tank most of the damage, but now the brawler felt she put too much into that clap. Even her ears were ringing from the sound, so she didn't want to know how they were feeling. Taking the canteen, she splashed the two in the face to get them awake. Good news is that they were alive and not out for blood.

"You guys okay?" She shouted, the ringing in her ears still not going away.

"What?" They both shouted back, seeing Yang's mouth moving but no sound coming out. It would be a while before they could hear again.

At least there were no Grimm coming after them now. Yang's thunderclap sent a wave that made every other Grimm cautious of going in the source's direction. The brawler made a note to later on try to combine it with her fire to make it a flaming boom. For now though, she needed to get her friends back to her dad and get them up to speed of what happened.

 **With Taiyang**

Somehow Taiyang felt he got the easiest, but at the same time hardest group to take care of. He's not saying Yang's got it hard or easier than him – but he could only take so much of being thrown around by his own weight into trees and thorny bushes. What's worse is that the two girls would _not_ stop screaming and attacking anything that moved or made a sound!

They were in a bad nightmare where even their shadow was scaring them – and that was saying something. It was a challenge just to get near them too. If Ruby wasn't shooting him or trying to slice him up for getting three feet close to him, she was running off with that damned semblance of hers. It's like her early years in Signal again. And let's not forget Ms.-I-can-toss-you-with-my-magic-circles princess. Maybe if he was lucky enough, he could toss the water into their faces and hoped the stupid canteen would crack on their skulls. …No, that was the frustration talking – he couldn't do that to his daughter and her partner.

"Ruby, it's me!" He shouted to her, hoping his voice would get her to stop. A gunshot that nearly missed him was a response that meant no.

Really! What were those two seeing that was spooking them so much? After chasing them for a good few more minutes while punching any Grimm that got close to them, there was a bit of a quake and loud boom that shook the ground. The two girls were off balance a bit longer than Taiyang, and that was the chance he needed.

Running to his daughter first, he put her in a tight headlock and struggled as she kept crying and kicking him in a means to escape.

"Get off! Leave me alone! Aaah!" She cried, continuing to wiggle in his arms.

Taking his canteen out, he unscrewed it with his mouth and dumped some of the water on her face to get her to snap out of it. If she weren't struggling so much, this would have reminded him of medicine time whenever she got sick. Oh look, she was spitting like she did when she was seven. Just a bit more up her nose though, and …done! Letting her go, she stopped running around like a chicken with her head cut off and fell to her knees. All that fear must have tuckered her out.

Now all that left was her partner. Looking over to her, Taiyang sighed seeing she sprained her ankle. Well, at least it was going to be easy now. Walking over to her, she was whimpering while clutching her foot.

"Please." The heiress sniffed while not looking up at him. "Go away."

"It's okay Weiss." He shushed her, kneeling down to pour the water on her face. "It'll all be over soon."

When he placed his hand on her shoulder to turn her to him, he caught the pure terror in her eyes as she looked up at him.

"Please daddy no!" Weiss cried, shielding her face with both arms. What she was seeing over her wasn't the father of her leader and friend with a canteen in hand. She was seeing a stern man hovering over her with a hand raised to hit her.

When Taiyang heard her shout, he froze not believing what she said. Being a father himself, he could guess what she was covering her face for. It shocked him and made him angry when he connected the dots. Putting the canteen down, he slowly placed his hand on her head tenderly to stop her from crying. What kind of monster would lay their hands on their own kid like that? Yang could get on his nerves sometimes, and Ruby wasn't always an innocent angel; but he'd never raise his hands to them like that. Sure he'd throw a punch to teach them how to fight, but after the training they'd all share a laugh.

The heiress wasn't calming down though. She was still staring up at him with a quivering lip and fear in her eyes. Slowly taking the canteen, he poured the water on her face and held her down gently as she kicked and sputtered. The Baku mist might be washed off, but the fear was still going to be there. If Taiyang ever did meet the white haired girl's dad, he'd have a few words to say to him – after he decked him in the jaw. Just like Ruby, Weiss fell asleep too. Checking his scroll for the time, he saw it was nearly five in the morning. Funny how time flew by when put in a state of fear. Picking the two girls up, he went to go back to his camp to meet up with Yang. He hoped the others were okay. This was more emotionally tiring for him than physical. Having his baby girl look at him like he was a monster did a lot on him – fear gas or none.

 **With Ren and Nora**

The sun was rising as Ren and Nora finally made it to land. After following the river down, the two made it to a shallow end and noticed some arrows near the shore. They took it as a sign Jaune had been there.

"Ren, look!" The ginger pointed to a trail that went into the forest.

Looking to the ground, the ninja also saw some bloodstains that looked fresh. Hope was coming back to him after that weird nightmare.

"Let's follow that trail." Ren led the way with Nora close behind.

It was a good thing they had those arrows though. Sure it was only three, but it was better than nothing. Slowly trekking the area with Nora clinging to his back, they made sure to be cautious for any sudden sound or movement. Hearing a snap in the bushes, Ren reacted quickly and threw one of the arrows to the sound. It was a false alarm though since what popped out was a mouse of all things. That got a laugh out of the ginger behind him who taunted how a mouse got him so spooked. Luckily for Ren, Nora was the one to get spooked soon.

"Eeee!" She suddenly jumped behind him while ramrod straight.

"What?" He asked her, trying to get her to keep still while she flailed a bit.

"Something cold dripped on me!" Nora felt her back for the drop that fell.

Honestly, Ren was surprised she could feel something colder since they were still dripping wet from the river. Humoring her though, he took out his scroll to shine a light above them. He was glad Nora got spooked though since what they found was Jaune's shield along with his underwear and torn hoodie.

"Nora." He pointed upward for her to see.

When she did see it though, the ginger gasped and quickly got to climbing to get the things down.

"Jaune was here." She whispered, stretching the hoodie to see it was really his. She scrunched her face though once she got to his underwear. "Why are these here though? You think he's running around naked like a Wildman?"

It was nice to see thought that Nora had hope Jaune would still be alright. That was enough to give him hope too.

"Lets worry more on trying to find him rather if he's naked or not." He replied, thumbing in the direction of tossed leaves and broken branches. When he turned back to his partner, he saw her pocketing Jaune's underwear and hoodie. "What are you doing?"

"Just in case we find him butt naked and not in a Tarzan thing." She replied, patting the somewhat dry cloth. They were still damp and dripping a bit, but it was still good.

He would have said something against it, but on the off chance Jaune was butt naked he'd think his leader would appreciate a bit of covering. Shrugging, the two went on their way to follow the disturbed path. From the looks of things, Jaune wasn't alone either since some of the marks on the ground showed some shoes. That meant someone was following him. Pointing it out to Nora, she got her own crazy conspiracy of what was happening.

"I bet Jaune's being hunted!" She said with finger scratching her chin. "Some scientist is looking around for the missing link in the human gene pool and mistook Jaune for it."

"Nora, I know you're excited but even that sounds a bit-"

Whatever Ren was going to say was halted when they heard the sounds of a struggle coming close their way. As the noise got near, the two saw something they would forever try to purge out of their minds – more of Ren trying to purge it while Nora secretly videoed the thing on her scroll for a later laugh. After all, it wasn't every day you saw your leader naked as the day he was born straddling on the back of Ruby and Yang's uncle while trying to choke him out. It was a bit of a nice redemption if Ren could say so himself. Qrow was sort of asking for asking for it with those horrible nicknames he kept giving them.

"A little help here would be nice!" The drinker choked out, having trouble with the kid.

He's been wrestling the guy for a long time now and that stupid Baku mist still hadn't worn off. And because of his stupid semblance making bad luck for those around him, there just had to be another Baku sleeping under a bush he threw the kid into! Between fighting the kid, killing those nightmare Grimm and the ones attracted to them, and making sure not to get the freakin' kid's dongle out of his face; he can say _he_ had the worst night of the lot of them.

"Go Jaune, go!" Nora cheered for her leader, wanting him to win the fight. She was even videoing the whole thing in different angles for dramatic effect.

Backing up into a tree to smash the kid into it, he felt the tall blonde tighten his grip in anger. Whatever the kid was seeing in his mist addled mind was really working on him to the extreme to push him like this. Elbowing the kid multiple times, he felt his grip loosen a bit and used it to spin around to cold clock him in the jaw. Instead of backing down though, it only made Jaune angrier and retaliate with a groin kick and an elbow to the throat.

Once Qrow was on the ground clutching his throat, Ren and Nora took the chance to jump in while Jaune was distracted. Nora felt guilty after punching Jaune repeatedly in the face, but the huge blush she was sporting from being close to a naked man sort of halved it to where she felt it was necessary. Sure she's seen Ren's when they were kids bathing together, but after they got older they had to stop obviously. Although Ren seemed to not hold anything back when he used his leader's shield to bash him in the back of the head though. Once he was out like a light, they gingerly placed him down while avoiding looking or touching below the waist.

"Take that!" Qrow jumped forward to give a chop of his own. He didn't blame the kid for being rough, but he fought the guy for hours straight and needed the therapeutic hit. Turning to the two, he nodded with a bit of a glare. "Thanks for jumping in at the last second and not when I asked earlier."

"Eh, you could've taken him." Nora made the lame excuse. Taking out Jaune's underwear from her skirt pocket, she eyed to two guys expectantly. "I'm not putting them on him."

"Good luck." The drinker folded his arms to not take the undergarments. "I've had his naked ass on my back for hours. One of you guys do it."

"I'm not comfortable enough to do that." Ren passed it on back to Nora.

"And I am?!" The ginger gawked.

Since none of them were willing to get near the lower regions, Qrow opted to forego his cape to cover the kid's junk while they dragged his butt back to the camp. While they were at it, Nora decided to lighten her pockets by dumping Jaune's stuff on his unconscious body while they literally dragged him to the river. They didn't have to wait that long for the others since Qrow shot a signal into the air to show where they were. It wasn't long before everyone was back together. Sadly, the uncle along with the two conscious teens forgot something very important.

"Why is Jaune naked?" Pyrrha asked while turning away. The color of her cheeks was nearly the same hue as her hair. Off to the sides, the other girls were either covering their eyes or turning away. Although Qrow noted to seeing Blake and Yang peek a bit through their fingers for a few seconds.

As Qrow was forced by Taiyang to help him carry Jaune's unconscious body back to camp, the others were tasked in guarding them against any Grimm that got close. This was sort of the mission training they were supposed to be facing in the future – although it was supposed to be a safe simulation and not the real thing.

 _Aaw!_

Looking up, Tai and Qrow bit their inner cheek to see a black bird circling them. Of course Raven was watching the whole time. They would be having words later. It was a foreseeable fact once they were back safe in their camp.

 **Campsite**

On their way back to the camp following the river, Ren and Nora were relieved to find their weapons were still where they left them. Then again, they wouldn't be anywhere else since it had only been a few hours since they were chased into the river. Plus it's not like the Grimm knew how to use high tech weapons. There was a bit of dirt and moisture in the gears, but it wasn't anything a little cleaning could fix.

"Splash some water on him and leave some clothes for him to use, okay?" The blonde dad told to his eldest while thumbing to the makeshift tent they made. He didn't leave any room for a conversation though. The black bird was still circling them and it was apparent she wouldn't be going away any time soon.

"Dad." Yang motioned up to the bird. After seeing her once, she was a bit wary of black birds flying near her or her friends.

"It'll be fine Yang." He assured her, wishing he was confident in what he said. "Stick close together and rest now. It's been a long day."

Nodding, Yang went to getting Jaune fixed up. Nora did a number on his face with how purple it was under the eyes. His shoulder and legs weren't looking so good either with how swollen they were.

"Mind if I help?" Pyrrha asked, joining Yang in assessing Jaune's injuries.

"Uh, yeah." The brawler said, getting some cold water to press on Jaune's face. She needed to get the swelling down and this beat splashing him with water to get rid of any Baku mist still in him. So it was killing two birds with one stone.

"Thank you, Yang." The champion said, getting Yang out of her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"For helping me and Jaune." She clarified. "You saved Blake and I from killing one another, and for helping Jaune now."

"I-it's nothing." Yang stuttered, not feeling she deserved any of the gratitude. "You guys are important to me, so of course I'd jump in to do something."

"Either way, I thank you Yang." Pyrrha said once more. "If you hadn't done what you did, I fear I would have either died or regretted myself if I succeeded."

"No really P-Money, you shouldn't be thanking me." She pushed, getting Pyrrha to question her reason. "I don't deserve it. I deserve much worse."

"Don't be silly Yang." The redhead shook her head. "You're the reason we're all okay."

"Just drop it, okay?" Yang yelled with tears leaking out. Not feeling well after seeing Pyrrha's stunned face, she got up and left.

She didn't deserve any thanks from her, or Blake, or Jaune. She didn't deserve any thanks from any of them! It was because of her mom that Jaune got thrown off a cliff! It was because of her mom they had to go in and save his ass! Part of the blame fell on her and she didn't want any thanks for something she felt responsible for. Wiping away the tears forming in her eyes, she went off to get some water. May as well dump some cold water on Jaune to wake him up.

Off in a more hidden and secluded area of the forest, Raven sat atop a branch while looking down at her brother and ex-husband.

"Looks like you lose Raven." Taiyang said in a cold tone. "You didn't get a death or a win. We saved him just in time."

The low chuckle she gave in return had both men grit their teeth. It was like she didn't care at all at what she did.

"So short-sighted Tai." The dark haired woman shook her head. "You went far beyond what I was expecting."

' _That's a first.'_ He thought bitterly, knowing she wasn't one to be pleased so easily.

"I threw the boy aside to test his strength and spirit." She continued. "You on the other hand sent more into the forest to be tested. Thank you for showing me who to keep an eye on though. Rest assured though, I've no interest in Summer's whimpering spawn or that crying Schnee."

At that time, Taiyang really did throw a punch that shattered the tree Raven sat on. He didn't like her of all people talking about Summer, or Ruby, or any of them like that.

"And thank you for testing the boy for me Qrow." The sister said to her brother. "He truly is something to keep an eye on with that power of his. Him and his partner."

"Instead of taking an interest in other people's kids, why not look at your own?" He rebutted back with arms crossed.

The smirk she sent the two made them feel uneasy. She didn't say anything, but just left in a portal. It was the kind of smirk that promised something for selfish interests and would be something they were _very_ much going to be against.

After calming down from being triggered, Tai turned to his old teammate. "What really happened after you found the kid?"

Of course Tai wouldn't believe the whole bullshit of wrestling the kid for hours. If he wanted to, the kid would've been knocked out and in camp way before the sun rose. But that's not what happened at all.

During their fight, Qrow came face first with Jaune's semblance.

 **END**

 **AN: A flashback next chapter that reveals Jaune's semblance? Yes. Foreboding now that Raven is interested in a few more people? Definitely. Characters probably going to break down because of their fears being pulled out? Of course. Returning to Beacon soon for the tournament? Soon.**

 **Currently on the YellowDragon ship. Wow it is so yellow in here and roomy too. So much smutty smut and drawings too. Looks like if I join in on this, I might get a free membership to try out their gym. I'll think about it, but I'm going to check out the French Vanilla Ship and White Knight next. I here Couer-Senpai was spotted in both ships last. I did meet Jitterwhack in S.S Knightshade though.**

 **This has been Aloehisja and thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed and look forward to the next chapters.**


	20. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I don't RWBY.**

 **Chapter 19:** Rising Tension

Qrow took a swig of his flask to get his lips a bit more loosened up. Looking to Taiyang, he readied himself of what happened.

"So the kid gets sprayed by nightmare mist." The drinker started. "He goes crazy trying to choke me out."

 _Flashback_

 _Qrow struggled to get the boy off him as they wrestled through the dark forests. It was like having a big hairless monkey trying to choke him while humping his back. On a few occasions, Qrow had to take falling on the ground over having the kid's dick come close to his head. Any other time Qrow would have just knocked Jaune out, but the kid was radiating so much negativity Grimm were swarming to them like mosquitoes. Good news, Jaune would jump off him to punch a Grimm; bad news, crazy kid wasn't in the right mindset to hit them properly – he knows the guy can punch a hole in one's head if he wanted. Other bad news, every time he punched one he'd go right back to jumping back on the drunkard to beat his head._

" _Shit!" He said through gritted teeth after Jaune took a bite at his ear._

 _Slamming the blonde into a tree, he felt Jaune's grip loosen. Taking the chance, he threw him off into some bushes. That was a mistake with his damn semblance since he popped right back up holding a Baku spraying him in the face. Watching the kid scream some more after snapping the thing's neck in rage and fear, Qrow decided to try and approach him slowly. The kid wasn't raging that much as before, but he looked completely broken – like a man who lost everything. Hearing some Grimm approaching them, Qrow shifted his weapon into scythe mode._

 _The sounds must have triggered Jaune because he heard it and charged at Qrow once more with bloodshot eyes. Fun fact about Baku: one Baku spray causes nightmares and hallucinations – shot more than once while still affected causes hallucinations to become more vivid to the point of mind-breaking. And the after effects are similar to a hangover from twenty bottles of straight vodka._

" _Rah!" Jaune roared, swinging at the trained huntsman who expertly dodged._

 _Qrow didn't know how long he going at it dodging Jaune while killing Grimm, but it felt like hours. After he felt the last Grimm was dead, he turned back to Jaune and hit him in the solar plexus to get the air out of him._

 _As the boy fell to his knees naked and in pain, Qrow sighed at the pitiful sight in front of him. He couldn't blame it on the kid though – those who suffered from the Baku never looked the best._

" _It's time to go home kid." Qrow muttered, raising his weapon to smack Jaune with his pommel. When his weapon descended down, the first thing he saw was Jaune's defiant eyes before a flash occurred._

 _The next thing Qrow knew, his weapon flew out of his hand like it bounced off Jaune's head. Looking at the blonde, Qrow noticed he was glowing a bit while glaring at him intensely._

"What happened then?" Tai asked after Qrow paused.

Taking another swig, the crow grunted after a hard swallow. "A whole string of bad luck."

 _The man didn't know what was happening. It was like anything that could happen was happening to him. Trees nearly toppling on him from nowhere, branches snapping off and almost landing on him, the ground he was walking on crumbling spontaneously, and his cape flapping to cover his face. It was like bad luck was pushed down on him._

 _Once Jaune stopped glowing, it was like the bad luck ended. That is until the blonde leapt on top of him. Qrow did all he could to stay balanced while trying to make sure the kid's junk didn't fly in his face. It was like this for a bit longer until Ren and Nora came along._

 _End Flashback_

Aside from the funny story Tai got on Qrow, it baffled him on Jaune's power.

"So what are you saying?" He asked the drunkard. "The kid has a semblance of bad luck like you?"

"Hard to say." Qrow shrugged. "All I know is that it's a hell a lot more potent than mine. Even I can't get trees to fall on top of people at random."

It didn't make any sense to Taiyang though. The other night, he could've sworn Jaune's semblance was making tiny explosions but now Qrow brought this up. Maybe the knight was like some of the rare few that carried two semblances. It would explain Raven's interest in him but that was too easy. It would also be helpful to what Raven warned them about.

"What're you thinking on?" Tai's teammate asked, putting his flask away.

'A lot of things' is what he wanted to say. Things were getting fucked up wherever they went and a lot of old wounds were opening up after years of peaceful bliss. With Raven's warnings and interests, he wondered which was scarier. The biggest questions he's always asked himself though: What's he going to do next? What can he do for them?

 **Back at the camp**

Ren watched Pyrrha and Jaune with the eyes of a hawk. While team RWBY and Nora went off to clean themselves off and lick their wounds, he sat on a rock and watched the champion wipe away the sweat off their leader's head and clean off any dirt stuck to his body. She truly was like the mother of team JNPR. Looking to his sleeping leader, his heart ached a bit to see him in a sorry state. He still wonders what happened out there that cause Jaune to fall off a cliff? While the blonde may be a goof some times, he was not an idiot that just jumped off a cliff like that.

Rubbing his eyes, he shook his head when the images of Jaune and Pyrrha changed to the image of his late mom and dad. Cursing, he pushed back the nightmare in the back of his mind. The two were nothing like his parents! How could he even look at them like that? So what if Pyrrha was caring and always wanted what was best for them. So what if Jaune always acted for the good of others. They weren't… they weren't…

"Ren? Are okay?" Nora asked unusually quiet as she scooted close to him. He was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn't notice Nora was finished with her bath and sat next to him.

"I-I'm doing fine." He said hoarsely. "Why do you ask?"

Instead of answering, she ran a finger on his cheek and pulled back to show it was wet. Rubbing his eyes, Ren found tears were leaking down his face. He didn't even notice. Getting a hug from Nora though, he felt a bit better. It must have surprised her when he returned the hug because he felt her flinch.

"You're still a great hugger." She giggled, squeezing a little bit tighter in affection.

Squeezing her back, Ren's reason was different from hers. He was holding her tighter because he was scared to let go. He already had a dream of losing her and the others – he was afraid that it would turn into a reality. Closing his eyes for a bit, he relished in how soft she was. Was she always this soft or did he just take the hugs she gave for granted?

Hearing a gasp from Pyrrha, the two immediately let go and went to her side. Their leader was awake and trying to stand up.

"Jauney!" Nora cheered, elated to see her leader awake. Her smile soon fell when Jaune didn't respond. "Jaune?"

Moving in front of him, Ren looked him dead in the eye and saw the blonde's was still misty eyed and a bit bloodshot. Cautiously shaking his shoulder a bit, Jaune started to move at a sluggish pace.

"Jaune, where are you going?" He asked, trailing after him. Each time he tried to stand in front of him, his leader would slowly walk around him. Looking at his path, he saw he was making a line towards the sword still stuck in the stump. "Jaune, you can do that another time. You need to rest."

It went on deaf ears as all Jaune saw was the sword. Pyrrha and Nora tried to pull him back, but the blonde struggled and shook his way off them. He was moving like a zombie but his strength was all there and then some. The two girls would have been able to pull him if they put their all into it, but they were afraid to hurt him if they used too much force.

As Jaune finally made it to his sword, he slowly put his hands on the hilt and pulled. They could see him strain and his muscles tensing as he tried to pull it out. For a while, Ren thought he was going to succeed when he saw a centimeter get pulled up. But that was all Jaune was able to get out before he fell to his knees. His misty eyes were still stuck on the sword with a face of surrender. It didn't match his leader one bit.

"Don't give up Jaune." Ren whispered in Jaune's ear, grabbing his leader's hands to put back on the hilt. "I believe you can do it."

His leader was not a man who gave up so easily. His leader was not this broken boy kneeling on the ground. His leader was and is the same idiot that strove to better himself and always got back up even when knocked down repeatedly. He's seen him when he courted the Ice Queen, when fighting a tank of a man, beating down training bots, and when wrestling a trained huntsman bare naked and unarmed. He wasn't a leader worth following blindly, but a leader worth listening to.

"You can do it. Just try." The ninja urged his leader, trying to ignite that fire in him once more. He must have gotten somewhere because the blonde's grip tightened on the hilt once more. That was as far as Re got with his leader though as consciousness left the blonde and he slumped forward. Ren caught his leader before his head hit the pommel though. At least he knew Jaune wasn't so fully set on giving up – just really tired.

Trying to lift him up though, the ninja had to admit the knight was really putting on the heavy muscle with how hard it was to lift him on his own. He didn't have to say anything to Pyrrha or Nora since they were immediately replacing him to put Jaune back on his sleeping bag. Looking at the sword, he saw a faint glow and wondered if it was a trick of the light or something else. Putting that way for a later thought, the ninja spotted Yang walking over with a bucket of water in hand. Lagging behind was the rest of her team looking refreshed but a little worn out.

"Hey." The busty blonde greeted him. "The river's free if you want to go and get cleaned up. The waters are good for washing away the mist residue."

Nodding, Ren went off and left his team with RWBY. They'd be safe while he was gone.

"How's he doing?" Yang asked as she set the bucket next to Pyrrha.

"He got up a moment ago, but he's sleeping again." The redhead answered, pulling Jaune's bangs back to show his whole face.

That was a good enough answer for Yang to do what she was planning.

"That's reassuring." Nudging the champion a bit away, she picked the bucket back up and slowly poured a small stream down Jaune's face. He wasn't going to drown, but it might be helpful if he still had any nightmare mist on him. Pyrrha understood it had to be done and watched as the waters trickled down Jaune's face and splashed onto the rest of his body. Now that Yang had a good look at him, she had to admit he wasn't the same scrawny guy she agreed to help train. He wasn't as built as Cardin or Sun, but he had a more toned build that showed he had a strong chest and gut.

Finishing half of the bucket, she let Pyrrha wipe him off so he wouldn't catch a cold. Looking at him once more and remembering who was the real reason he was put in his state, she clenched her fist in rage. No matter how long it'd take, she'd someday sock the jaw of the woman who put her in this world. Raven made it very clear to Yang that she didn't deserve the title of mom – that belonged to Summer.

 _Aaw!_

Looking up, the brawler's face nearly twisted into a scowl when she saw a big black bird looking at her. Those red eyes and the way it followed her made it clear who it really was. Scoffing and turning away, she decided to ignore the stupid bird. Yang's went fifteen years without Raven and spent twelve waiting and searching for her – maybe it was time for Raven to spend the next fifteen waiting for her to have a talk. She already had an awesome mom that took care of her and a family that showed she was loved.

 _Aaw!_

The bird's crow put a smirk on Yang's face as she ignored it once more. The blonde bet she didn't like being on the other end. Good, because she wasn't getting anywhere with her until she was confident enough to deck her in the face. Until then, it was just a happy fantasy.

"Hey!" Yang shouted as the bird swooped down and started plucking at her hair. Swinging her fists, she tried to punch it but cursed when it dodged them. "Stupid bird!"

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, going to her sister's aid with a stick in hand. She thought it was just a regular bird so it wouldn't do to use her scythe on the thing. That would be overkill – plus she doubted crows tasted good being scavengers and all. Once Blake and Nora joined in, the bird flew off until it wasn't seen. "What was up with that bird?"

"Maybe she has some bugs in her hair." Nora put in her thought while tucking her stick behind her.

"I doubt it." Yang muttered, knowing what it really was about. After a few seconds though, she pulled in her hair to check if there were really bugs in them – just to be sure.

Hearing a groan, the girls perked up and turned to see Jaune was stirring once more.

"Jaune." Pyrrha smiled, seeing he was fully awake this time and not in a trance.

"Pyr?" He said with a raspy throat. Drinking water his partner offered him, he clears his throat to get it nicely moistened. As he tried to sit up, he winced in pain from how sore he felt. "Ouch! Everything feels so sore."

"Jauney!" Nora cheered, happy to see his leader was back. "I have to go tell Ren!"

Running off to the river, the ginger left a small dust trail in her path from how fast she was sprinting.

"It's good to have you back with us, Jaune." Blake said with a small smile on her face.

"I wish I wasn't so sore though." He mumbled, rubbing his hands over himself. Feeling nothing but skin, his eyes widened when he realized he was half naked. "I'm naked?! W-where are my clothes?"

Blushing at the memory of how they found him, the girls looked away in embarrassment and a tinge of red to their cheeks. They were so worried about him, they forgot he was only in his underwear.

"T-that's what we should be asking." Weiss said with a slight glare and blush on her face. "Why on earth were you naked when we found you?!"

"You guys saw me naked?!" He gasped, missing Weiss' question. Burying his head into his hands, he wanted the earth to swallow him where he lied. This was even worse than when his sisters dressed him up in dresses and put him in those bunny suits – the worse being the male playboy bunny.

"W-we didn't see much." Ruby said, trying to relieve him of his worries. It had an opposite effect though since he lied back down with a depressed cloud over him.

"I guess there wasn't much to see, right?" He mumbled in a hollow tone.

' _Oh there was plenty alright.'_ Four out of the five females thought with blushes turning redder.

"Oh yeah. It was impossible to see anything." The reaper agreed, not getting what Jaune meant. "Your …special place was covered up so well we didn't see anything."

She would have said the derogatory term for his genitals, but Yang was close by and she didn't want to open those cans of worms.

Coughing to stop the awkwardness from getting worse, Pyrrha decided to end it. "It was actually Nora and Ren who found you. They said you went mad and fought Qrow until the sun rose."

"And that you did it naked~." Yang added in with a smirk. It was mostly because of her uncle being the victim and not Jaune – plus the video Nora shared was hilarious to watch.

"Yang!" The girls scolded, wanting to move on from it.

"What?" The blonde brawler said with a grin. "Ruby already said his junk was covered up when we found him. The only one who saw it clearly was Uncle Qrow, Ren, and Nora."

"That didn't help at all." Jaune said, looking around for something to cover himself with more. So far, the cape tied to his waist was the only thing covering his modesty but it could only cover so much. "Can I please have some clothes?"

Rushing away from the makeshift tent, Weiss quickly found Jaune's bag and pulled out whatever she could find. In the end, she pulled out a blue shirt and some black pants for him to wear. There was a bit of a blush on her face when she had to take out his underwear. It was a good thing Yang was close by to help her out. She's never handled another man's undergarments before.

After handing the blonde leader of JNPR his clothes and giving him some privacy to change, the blonde walked out barefoot but properly clothed. While he did so, Nora returned with Ren close by. They hoped they'd be able to go into the town soon to stock up on supplies. The forest fiasco and the whole going crazy fighting each other drained them of their ammo by eighty percent – plus it'd be good for Jaune to get some shoes to protect his feet.

"So you going to tell us why you were naked in the first place?" Yang asked once more, genuinely curious of how Jaune came to be in his previous state.

Sighing, Jaune decided to retell of the things he could remember after he fell off the cliff. He also added chasing a bird, his self medical help, up to the point where he was naked in a tree with a small fire. After he was done, the group had their own things to share but it was Ruby who added something that caught most of their attention.

"That thing about the bird was kinda weird." She said, getting them to wonder where she was going with it. "While you were still sleeping, a black bird like the one you said attacked Yang."

"Might be a coincidence. Black birds are pretty common." Her fellow leader said dismissing it.

Jaune might have dismissed it as coincidence, but Ren didn't. He didn't when he noticed Yang flinch at the mention of the bird. He's also noticed the bird watching them before they slept and remembered there was one circling above them on their way back to the camps. It had some sort of significance, and his gut was telling him to be on caution. For now though, he wouldn't push. Now was not the time to point fingers.

The ninja looked amongst the group and saw none were suspicious of it at all. He couldn't blame them though since they just got back from a long night of horrors. It's mainly because of Nora that Ren isn't a hollow mess now. He doesn't say it to her much, but the energetic ginger is his rock and light. It's why he's always willing to make her pancakes and forgive her for her outrageous behavior. Looking at her spout theories of birds finally thinking they were good enough to be the superior beings amongst humans and faunus, he let a small smile crack at how she managed to get everyone to smile and laugh with her.

' _But we're not together together.'_ Those words, which were meant to stop things from feeling awkward between the two, didn't sound as good now as it did before. Now it felt painful and put a pit in his gut.

The ninja knows what infatuation and longing are. Even when he and Nora traveled together as kids, his eyes wandered to other girls he imagined building a relationship with. It's just the thought of having those feelings for the girl who was always by his side since their village was destroyed was new.

Looking at Pyrrha, he felt he could share this with her knowing she succeeded somewhat in getting Jaune's attention. By now the two could be dating, but decided to leave it at complicated until further notice. He thought of sharing this new development with Jaune, but the ninja paused remembering how bad a liar his leader is – while it had its charms, now was not it. He made up his mind; he was going to get Pyrrha's advice.

"Good to see you guys are doing okay." Taiyang greeted them as he entered the camp. When he saw they were looking behind him for Qrow, he explained where their other teacher was. "Qrow's currently going over some paperwork with the security in Patch. We're going a bit early on this, but we're upping the ante on your training."

"So what's on today's agenda?" Yang asked.

"Today is going to be a rest day." Tai answered, getting them to sigh in relief. They would be relieved though once he explained why. "It doesn't mean you all are going be lazing and goofing off though. We're going to be heading back into town to stock up on supplies you all might need for your next assignment."

"What is our assignment? More scouting for Grimm?" Weiss asked.

"Glad you asked." He said with a smirk. "No, it's not a scouting mission. We just had you look through these areas so you'd be well acquainted with them. From here on out, you'll all be on guard and escort duty protecting some civilians."

That was a big step for all of them. They remembered their mission boards having scavenging and shadowing projects, but going on to full on guard and escort was licensed huntsmen work. Tai could see the surprise on their faces.

"Sounds tough, right?" He said, knowing it would be. Not many civilians had faith in huntsmen keeping them safe. He knew from experience. "In Beacon's standards, it'd be a third year mission. But I think you guys can handle this."

Funny enough, not that many students ever made it to year three or even graduated from year four. Beacon stood by government pay and charity from civilians and past alumni, but the passing rates were so low many dropped by their second years. Those that were truly skilled and able to pass were considered the best of Beacon because they were _able_ to graduate.

"You all have twenty minutes to get your things set." He told the group. "By then, we'll be heading out to meet with the clients."

Going off to pack their things, Jaune paused as he looked at his sword still stuck in the stump. He still hasn't been able to pull it out yet, but he felt he's got something else that could help. Concentrating on his aura once more, he felt it a little easier than before but still straining. Going to the sword and trying to pull once more, he cursed when he didn't feel anything at all.

"Dammit." He cursed, hitting the hilt in frustration.

"Having some trouble there?" Tai asked, getting Jaune's attention.

"I know I feel something, but it's just not coming to me." The blonde leader sighed, eyeing the sword in frustration.

"I know it's hard. Even I had trouble getting it at first." The father said, patting Jaune on the shoulder. "Those with troubled minds tend to struggle."

"…How did you learn to control it?" Jaune asked, not wanting to leave his blade behind.

"I learnt to let go." He said as if that was all it took. To Jaune it raised a question if all dads gave broad advice – it was right there with 'just have confidence.'

Seeing the doubt in Jaune's eyes, Tai could see where he was coming from – the damn advice sounded better in his head. "I know it doesn't sound that helpful but what else am I supposed to say. Your aura is a part of you – your very reflection. It wants what you want; so maybe you're not as in sync with yourself as you think."

That made a lot more sense than just saying to let go for the younger blonde. But hearing it all out, he disagreed with the whole it wants what he wants part.

"But I want to get my sword out." He muttered, eyeing Crocea Mors and tugging at it lightly.

"Maybe you're just lying to yourself." Tai said walking past him to check on the others. Before he was completely gone though, he had one more thing to say. "Aura doesn't lie kid. You can fool yourself and you can fool others, but aura shows who we really are. You gotta accept that. Believe me or not, it's your choice."

As he walked away, Jaune felt a heavy weight on his shoulders from those passing words. He wanted to get his weapon back, right? Looking down at the sword his great grandfather used, he wondered if he really did want it.

 **Minutes later**

"Is everyone set?" Taiyang asked after all eight teens were standing before him.

Looking around the camp area, he sighed seeing the cabin they collected lumber for wasn't even halfway to being finished. But he couldn't blame it on the kids. It's not everyday one of them gets thrown off a cliff by his crazy ex-wife and they have to go in and rescue him. To sum it up, he blames it on Raven for this rushed pace.

 _Aw!_

' _Dammit!'_ He grumbled, looking to a tree to see another black bird. It couldn't be Qrow since the guy would've just walked up to them by now. _'What does she want now?'_

Staring at the bird, he bit the inside of his cheek when he saw she wasn't staring at him. Following her stare, he saw she was looking at the kids. He took note it was Ren and Yang staring back at the bird with eyes narrowed.

"Shoo!" Nora shouted at the bird, waving her arms to scare it away. If Tai didn't know how dangerous the woman was, he'd be afraid for Nora. "Scat you!"

Once the bird flew off, Nora turned back to the others with a winning smirk. "They're not taking over the world today with me around."

Ren cracked a smile at her comment. She was set on the idea birds were trying to become the dominant species. After Ruby and Yang's dad told them to start moving, he lagged behind to where Pyrrha and Jaune were while Nora skipped in front with Taiyang. She was safe so long as she was close with him.

Looking back, he noted how slow the two were. Pyrrha was obviously trying to stay at the same pace as Jaune since he didn't have any extra shoes and was walking barefoot through the trail. It wasn't like it bothered the champion though. If anything, she was beaming as she held his hand while they walked side by side. That was what he was going to protect.

The peaceful look on his face turned stone serious when he looked behind the two to see a raven following them. He'd chalk it as just another bird flying overhead, but this bird was flying too casually while eyeing them. He ignored it for the first few miles it was noticed, but when they had to make a turn he saw it was still close by. When they stopped to take a break, he made an excuse to go and use the restroom behind some trees.

Walking as far as he could from them, he heard to sounds of wings fluttering behind him. He knew the damn thing was following them – it was hoping for someone to separate from the group. Hearing it's wings, Ren quickly spun around to toss a rock he picked up from the trail. The raven dodged it and didn't even squawk at almost being hit – like it knew he was going to do it. When it landed on a rock in front of him, he took a pose feeling threatened.

"What are you?" He whispered with weapons at the ready. He was not prepared to see the bird turn into a beautiful dark haired woman. The way she looked though reminded him of – "Yang?"

The smirk the woman gave was like the blonde's but far more mocking. "No, I'm not my daughter."

Even though she introduced herself as such, he still didn't trust her at all. There was something about her that threw his senses into high caution.

"Good to see you aren't letting your guard down." She commented, getting up with hand off her weapon. "I may have misjudged you."

"Why are you following us?" The ninja asked, taking a step back to keep his distance.

"Yeah, Raven." Yang suddenly appeared from behind a tree. "Why are you following us?"

Ren noted the way she was staring at her mom. It was full of hate and rage. Her semblance wasn't activated, but there was that heat in her eyes.

"I see your sneaking skills have somewhat improved. Only slightly though." Raven said, not turning to look at her. "I loved your performance in the forest by the way."

"Wanna have a closer look?" The brawler nearly snarled, cracking her knuckles. When Raven stood up, Ren cocked his weapons and took a step forward with eyes narrowing.

"Please." The woman scoffed while sparing him a glance. In an instant, she was in front of the ninja and managed to take both weapons out of his hands. "You two are no interest to me."

"Ragh!" Yang shouted, charging in to deck her in the face.

It was useless since the outcome was the same the last time she tried it. After her left hook was blocked, she was thrown in Ren's direction and caught roughly. Just as she pushed off him, she stopped when she saw the green barrel of Storm Flower pointed at her head.

All the while, Ren stood still with a feeling he thought he'd never feel again: too scared to act. He hasn't felt that way since he and Nora ran away, but this woman made him feel that way. Trying to muster some courage in him, he made to take a step forward but paused when his weapon twitched in her hand.

"That's enough." Raven warned them, putting the weapons down and tossing it at their feet. "I thought to have a nice chat with you Yang, but it seems you're still not good enough. Improved, but not yet good enough"

The ninja could hear Yang's teeth grind in anger. He didn't know what he got into, but this was beyond what he planned for. He didn't know how relieved he was when Raven turned away from them and opened up a portal.

"I'll leave for now. I've seen about all I needed." She muttered with back turned to them. Turning to give them a glance, she had a smirk on her face. "Do take care of that partner of yours Yang. She's a real special one."

"You leave Blake alone!" Yang snarled, taking two stomps forward with eyes turning red.

"The same goes for your team, Lie Ren." Raven ignored Yang's threat. "That Valkyirie has so much potential."

Whatever fear Ren had was snuffed when this woman mentioned Nora. Making a fist until his knuckles turned white, he stood next to Yang and glared at her mother. Instead of feeling threatened by them though, her smirk grew as if accepting their challenge.

"So you do have a spine." She said while walking slowly into the portal.

Once she was gone, it was just the two of them. It was easy for Ren to calm himself and find his center, but the same did not apply to Yang. Going to the rock Raven sat on, she punched it with so much force it shattered into pebbles.

After she finished wrecking trees and boulders, she was a huffing sweaty mess. As for Ren, he was beating himself up mentally for freezing up like that. His father told him to always act, and there he was frozen like a coward. That's the reason his team died in his nightmare – failure to act! Taking a swing at a tree, there was a small tap that soon turned into a crumbling hole from his fist.

"Felt good, didn't it." Yang mumbled, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Mhm." He replied, going to another tree to let out some rage. Punching it a few times, he felt a lot better than just meditating. By the time he was done, he was just as sweaty as Yang.

"We should head back now." The blonde said, wiping rubble off her gloves. "It's been over ten minutes."

"Yeah." Ren agreed, not wanting to keep their friends waiting. As they walked back together, he felt some tension left his chest. Sometimes you just had to punch something. "That was …cathartic. It felt really good too."

Giving a small laugh, Yang slugged him on the shoulder. He surprised her when he showed some emotion besides tired and sleepy. Walking in silence, the two thought over Raven's words. They didn't know what she had planned for their friends, but they sure weren't going to sit by when something happens.

"Hey." She said as they were getting close. "We'll keep them safe, right?"

"Of course we will." The ninja said, looking at his team. "They're the closest thing to what I have left of a family."

"Not just them either." Yang whispered, sneaking him into a one armed hug. It didn't matter if he was sweaty since she was too. "You can see my team as a family too."

He wasn't going to cry, but Ren felt his heart skip a beat just then. It's just been him and Nora for so long he forgot what it was like to have faith in other people. Then Jaune and Pyrrha came into their lives and their world grew with more people coming in. He even thought his four years of Beacon was just going to be him and Nora going through classes making close connection with no one – so much for that plan with Nora by his side.

"Th-thanks." He whispered, returning the one armed hug. For someone who punched like a freight train, Yang was surprisingly soft in the shoulders. Not as soft as Nora, but still soft.

Patting him on the shoulder, they walked back to the others still linked arm over the other. They got questioning looks from Yang's dad with how sweaty and messy they looked, but the brawler muttered something to her dad that saved Ren from an angry daddy.

Once they were back on the trail, the ninja spared a look back to see if any bird was following them. Finding none, he looked at the front to check on Nora to see she was skipping with head held high.

"By the way Jaune, what are you going to do about your sword?" Pyrrha asked out of the blue. "Once we finish the escort, maybe we can come back for it."

"That's not going to happen Pyr." Jaune shook his head, getting his teams attention. Ren turned around to glance at his leader and so did Ruby and Nora.

"I'm not taking it back."

 **END**

 **AN: Le gasp! The knight rejects his sword? I bet some of you weren't expecting that. Is he still Jaune with just his shield and a small knife? What'll happen to Crocea Mors? And what was up with the bad luck Qrow encountered? And what is the true nature of Jaune's semblance?**

 **Sorry it's been long. Classes started, chores, social life, and drawing practices. Plus I kept wondering how I will write this chapter – it seemed like a quick spoil just to give the semblance off the bat. I also wanted to put some story with Ren (he needs some love and attention too.) Can't have it be all about Jaune or else it turns into a slippery slope to Gary Stu-ville.**

 **For the explanation on Beacon, I found it strange that a bunch of first years and four second years were brave enough to face off Grimm invasions and the White Fang, but there were no signs of other higher years standing to fight. It's a combat school! Where was the guy with a flaming sword or the lady with a lightning spear? Instead we see students running away to ships.**

 **As always, hope you enjoyed. Hope you review – and to that one reviewer who just copy pastes, once is enough. Any of you have any questions, have an idea you want to share, or want some tips, just PM me.**

 **I'm Aloehisja and this is RWBY + J.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

 **AN: Back again with another chapter. I liked the comment of Jaune turning into King Arthur, but I wasn't planning on that to happen at all. He wont be the only one going through some changes either.**

 **Chapter 20:** Major Changes

"You're giving up?" Ruby asked what they were all thinking.

It was hard to imagine Jaune without his sword. It was like imagining the little reaper without Crescent Rose. And the poor sword stuck in the stump – it was probably feeling abandoned by now. It was probably cold and scared waiting loyally for Jaune to come back and pull her out.

"I just think it's time for a change." The blonde tried to explain. "Crocea Mors was never really mine to begin with. When I got accepted to Beacon it was just put in my hands without anyone asking me if I really wanted it. My dad was so proud when he handed it over, I couldn't say no and tell him I saved enough for a new weapon."

Blake recalled Ozpin once saying Jaune's family must've been tight on money for him to go enter a combat school. Seeing how Crocea Mors was like some antique and how expensive mechashift weapons were nowadays, she could sort of sympathize with Jaune.

The cat faunus wasn't the only one. Weiss could empathize with having something given to him without any consent. Looking over the others, the only one who seemed really against Jaune getting a new weapon was her leader.

"So that's it? You're just going to abandon it in a stump?" Ruby said in disbelief. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see it belonged to her dad. She wondered if he was going to talk some sense into him.

"You sure about this Jaune?" Tai asked with a firm tone. Getting a nod with no sign of hesitation, he turned back to the trail. "It's your choice. I'll just have to teach you aura control differently then."

Ruby couldn't believe him! Her dad was siding with Jaune and everyone else was just letting him give up.

The blonde was going to ask his fellow leader if she wanted to help him choose a weapon, but seeing her opinion was against his he doubted it'd go smoothly. Turning to Pyrrha, he was glad at least she was supportive of him.

"I'd be a hypocrite if I told you to stick to your first weapon." She said, feeling his eyes on her. "Milo and Akuou weren't my first weapons starting out in tournaments."

"Would you help me pick out a good weapon?" He asked, placing his hand in hers. Feeling her hand squeeze his, he got his answer.

 **Gates of Patch**

"Alright kids, we'll be splitting up to get things done fast." The older huntsman said, giving them free reign of who to go with. "Stock up on the things you need and meet up at the south gate before noon."

Before the group could go off though, he called over Ren and Yang. Telling Nora to go on without him, Ren followed the brawler and her dad to a secluded street area. Obviously it was going to be a talk of who hey encountered in the forest. As they moved and weaved through the streets and alleys, Taiyang would look overhead just to be sure no bird was close by. Once the father of Yang finally stopped, Ren readied the questions he wanted to ask.

"Yang tells me you ran into my ex-wife." The man started, leaning against a trash bin.

"What does she want with my team?" The ninja asked what was on his mind. Looking to Yang, he saw it was close to what she wanted to ask too.

Sucking in a breath, Tai scratched his head. It wasn't a nervous tick, but something he did whenever there was something he didn't like – hence, a bad itch.

"I'm not sure on the details. I just know she wants them for her tribe." He said all that he knew. Once upon a time he could have been a part of it, but now he wasn't even something worth to glance at.

"What tribe?" Ren asked, wanting a target to go after.

" _Her_ tribe." The man said as if it was that simple. "Some sort of band of warriors she builds full of people she thinks are strong."

That was enough for Ren to go on for now. The way he saw it, Raven wanted her friends because they were strong. Pyrrha and Nora were obvious, and Jaune was strong even if he didn't know it. And speaking of his leader. "She was the one who threw Jaune down the cliff."

It wasn't a question. It was a conclusion – a conclusion he knew was right seeing the expression Yang made.

"It was a test." Tai admitted in a low tone. "I've known Raven since we were put on a team and she wasn't always like this. Sure she was a bitch, but after some bad choices and accidents she became – what's the word I'm looking for?"

"A monster bitch?" Yang muttered, not seeing any excuse for her mother.

"A psycho?" Ren added, feeling it described her exactly.

"Broken." He said, ignoring the two. "That's the word I'm looking for. Ever since the accident, she's never been the same."

Hearing something new about Raven got Yang curious. The whole time her dad talked of Summer, Raven was added in like some sort of controlling bitch who admitted to doing no mistake. Hearing she had an accident was making her wonder what it was.

"What was the accident?" She asked, feeling this was a time for everything to come out. "The accident that broke her."

Glancing at the two, Tai wondered if they'd be ready for this answer. Seeing them staring at him intently, he knew this was something he couldn't get out of. What he said next though rocked them – especially Ren – to their core.

"She killed a human in her first year."

 **With Jaune and Pyrrha**

"How about this?" Pyrrha said, showing him a saber that shifted into a handgun.

After looking at so many mechashift weapons, Jaune still can't for the life of him figure out how they manage to bend into something so compact. It baffles him how they can take so much damage smacking into other weapons, and then shift on a whim with no problem to fire off bullets or dust. Sure his sheath can expand into a shield but it's not so complicated as the things his team has. The only other person with a not so complex weapon is Weiss. At least Myrtenaster is easy to understand.

"I'm not a fan of weapons with recoil." He said, reminding her of the rifle incident.

Stepping out of the handgun aisle, they moved on to where Nora was currently crouched. Currently, the ginger was holding a huge axe that had a hammer on the other side. Seeing as every other weapon in there was heavy, Jaune skipped it to see what laid on the others. So far he's rejected swords that change into handguns, rifles and whips and all variations of pole arms. Scanning over all the aisles, he sighed seeing something not close to what he was after.

"Do you have any bows lying around?" He asked the man behind the counter.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" The man replied, giving Jaune a raised brow. "Not that many people are into those nowadays."

"I'm vey sure." Jaune replied back, wanting to get his new weapon soon.

Shrugging, the man walked to a door behind the counter labeled storage. The sounds of boxes being moved and some rummaging could be heard for a couple of minutes. When the owner of the store came back out, he had three boxes in his arms. Two were about four feet long while the last one was only about two feet.

"These are the three I highly recommend." He said, opening each to showcase what Jaune had to choose from.

Glancing over them, Jaune saw the first two were mechashifts that turned into dual blades. He wasn't so keen on hitting people with the same thing he'd be firing at them with. Bows needed to have equal weight and balance on both arms, and he didn't want to risk the performance if the blades got damaged. Looking at the last one though, he raised a brow by how it looked.

"It's just the riser." He stated the obvious, picking up the item turning it over. Sure the limbs were sort of there – just really short like three inches. There was even the string running down too. It also had some weight to it. For a bow, it looked ridiculous.

"It's in compact mode." The owner said, taking it out of Jaune's hand and held it out horizontally.

 _Shing!_

The limbs popped out and the string held strong as it stretched. It was now four feet long and showed it was a recurve bow.

"Just add aura to open it up – press the button on the pivot point to compact again."

Pressing the button, the bow went back to being travel size. As it was put back down, Jaune made his choice.

"How much for that one?" He asked, ready to take out the Lien he's had saved up.

"It's one-fifty just for the bow, two hundred for the added thirty-two arrows." The price seemed to shock the three since most of weapons were ranging from six to eight hundred.

Having been scammed before, it was Nora who voiced out her concerns. "What's the catch, pal? No way something like this comes cheap. Is it stolen? Cheap metal? _Cursed?!_ "

Even Pyrrha nodded, taking the weapon to see how it was. Opening it back up and pulling on the string, she felt an approximate one hundred and twenty pounds from the pull and a perfect silent release when she let go. For something this good, there had to be a catch.

"I told you, bows aren't in high demand." The man said, ignoring Nora's critical eye. "These things have been in shop for so long, I've had to dock the price down to what you have now. If you think I'm scamming you, there's a firing range in the back for you to test out."

Nora was a still a bit skeptical about it, and the way she kept glaring at the storeowner wasn't subtle. As the three made it into the firing range, Jaune was given three arrows to test out. Remembering a trick his dad taught him when he was little, the blonde held the four arrows between each finger.

Pyrrha and Nora watched Jaune set the first arrow and pulled back. After he released, he was quick to set the second and fire and did the same with the third. After the last arrow was fired, the champion noted he did so in two seconds. Looking at his accuracy, she marveled on how he managed to hit two in the center and two on the outside. He was using a quick reload method forgotten by modern archers. She also noted he used both arms instead of just the draw arm to quicken his firing rate and lessen the strain from the pull.

"It works good." He said turning to them. "If I get a good deal on the armor, I might have enough for some dust."

"You're planning to get dust too?" Nora asked surprised. During their time in Beacon, Jaune was afraid to go near the stuff thinking his luck would have it blow up in his face.

"I had a talk with Weiss and she opened my mind to the idea." He said, putting the bow back in compact mode. "Normal arrows are good, but lightning arrows sound awesome."

The moment he said lightning arrows, Nora was by his side in full support. And if her leader was open to it, she might add her two cents to explosive arrows. Who was she kidding? Of course Jaune would be open to exploding arrows!

"Let's go, fearless leader." She cheered, dragging Jaune out of the firing range.

Following close behind, Pyrrha gazed at the target her leader hit one more time. It was nearly perfect. Stepping out, she nearly lost her composure seeing Jaune decked out in the most bulkiest armor she'd ever seen. She doubted he could even move with how much metal was covering him – not to mention how it was three times his size. Popping out of an aisle, Nora added another piece of armor to her leader's already heavy set.

Sometimes Pyrrha wondered why Jaune spoiled Nora like that. Sooner or later the moment he needed to say no to her, she doubted the bubbly girl would take him seriously.

"That's enough Nora." The redhead said, taking off most of the armor Jaune had on. Pulling the helmet she placed on his head, she giggled seeing the sweaty face of her leader staring back at her. "Why do you always indulge her so much?"

"There's no harm." He replied, wiggling out of the chest piece. "Give it a bit of time and she'll probably mellow out."

"Sooner or later, she's not going to listen when you do say no."

Shaking her head, Pyrrha helped put away most of the armor back to where it belonged. After that was done, she went on to help Jaune seriously pick out his armor while Nora sat as patiently as she could – which is not that much. By the time Pyrrha was able to find Jaune a pair of bracers, greaves, and boots, the bomber was out of her seat having a chat with the storeowner about a dream she had of wrestling an Ursa barehanded. From the looks of things, the owner was willing to listen to her tale too.

"How's this?" Jaune asked, posing for his partner after tons of rejections on both ends and compromising.

Since he'd be using a bow now, he decided to go with armor that gave less restriction. He forewent the chest armor and went with a segmented spaulder on his left shoulder and a tasset that covered the sides of his upper legs. For the clothes under the armor, he decided to wear a black sleeveless muscle shirt and orange arm sleeves with the left one going up to his shoulder. After he tried to stick with the jeans he was currently wearing, Pyrrha took it upon herself to use her own sense of style on him. Surprisingly, she was able to find pants that were baggy at the thighs but slimmed from the knees down – and they even came in blue. Jaune could understand the headband around his head to help keep his hair out of his eyes but he didn't know what was the point in having a choker. Pyrrha says it's just a fashion statement, but having something that has the word choke in it's name wasn't something he felt was a good fashion statement .

Looking her partner over, Pyrrha felt nodded in approval. "It's a whole new you, Jaune. It's good enough. You should try looking yourself in the changing room to see if you want to add something else."

Agreeing with her, Jaune walked into the room to look himself over. The whole time he'd been putting on clothes, he refused to stare at the mirror and just used his partner's opinion to gauge whether what he had on was good or not. Part of him wanted to just walk out and tell Pyrrha he looked, but then that'd mean he was lying to her – and he promised he wouldn't do that to her anymore.

Preparing for the worse, the blonde lifted his gaze slowly to the mirror. It's been so long he's looked at himself, he's forgotten how his face even looked like. Staring at his reflection, Jaune didn't know what to expect. At first he thought he'd still be seeing the same scrawny blonde back in Beacon, but now he was looking at a different person. There was still that faded image of a broken boy with blood on his face, but it was just a ghost now. Just like with Crocea Mors and the family expectations put on him by his father, he let it all go. And for once, Jaune was okay on who was staring back at him. He wasn't happy, but like his partner said – it was good enough.

"Hey there Jaune. It's finally great to see you." He said to his reflection. Chuckling at how crazy it was for him to be talking to himself, Jaune walked out of the changing room with a newfound confidence he's never felt before – the confidence to be himself.

Looking to his partner who was waiting for him, she held out his new quiver and weapon for him to strap on. Trying to concentrate some aura into his bow, he was glad to see it worked. Folding it up, he placed it on his left side while the red tanto was strapped to his right. Taking the quiver, he tied it to his waist and positioned it on his lower back. It was a good thing he was dressed in lighter armor because with the arrows, his shield, bow, and knife added extra weight – and he still needed to get some dust.

"So Nora, how do I look?" Jaune struck a pose for the bubbly girl to judge.

"Lookin' hot." She winked, pointing two fingers at him. Giggling when he returned the gesture, she grabbed his arm to get out of the store. "Now let's go get the dust!"

"Nora, no wait! I still have to pay for these." Her leader cried as he dug his heels into the floor. Trying to fight her was useless and she wasn't taking no for an answer.

Thankfully, Pyrrha was kind enough to take the money out of his hands and give it to the owner as they went out. As she caught up to her leader and their energetic teammate, she passed her partner a look that said 'I told you so.'

 **With Yang and Ren**

The story Taiyang told them was informative. To summarize it all, Raven was always a bitch – sort of like Weiss but more outgoing. In their first year she was snarky and sarcastic, but she was still a sociable person. Then on a mission to find a criminal on the run sighted in a ghost town, Raven accidentally killed a teenager two years younger than them. It was the runaway's daughter who charged at Summer with a rusty knife. Raven didn't mean to kill the girl, but it happened. Later on, they found out the man was framed and he was just a regular civilian like the rest of his family. The rest of team STRQ tried to be there for Raven, but she pushed them away and justified her actions as self-defense and the girl being too weak.

It was a regret Tai and Qrow held on for so long up until Raven ran away. The woman always had some sort of reason to justify her actions after that and held onto the mentality of the strong surviving while the weak died. After his tale was done, he left the two alone to stew over the story. For Ren, he was worried for his leader's mental stability and hoped his friend wouldn't fall into the same boat or something similar. As for Yang, she couldn't stomach being related to such a person. It only drove her to not be anything like the woman who put her in this world.

"Hey." She nudged the ninja, seeing him deep in though. "You doing alright?"

"I'm fine." He muttered, trying to move on from dark thoughts. Ren wasn't always superstitious, but he didn't want to tempt things – dark thoughts had a bad habit of coming true if thought of too much. "Jaune's not going to turn into someone like Raven. I have complete faith in him."

' _But what about me?'_ She wanted to ask, knowing Raven's blood flowed through her veins.

"I don't think you're going to end up like her either." The ninja said. Yang didn't know she'd asked her question out loud. "Our teams have spent so much time together, it's hard for me to see you becoming her at all. You love your team too much to turn into her."

' _Goddammit.'_ Yang was not going to tear up from his belief in her. She was not going to sob and bawl her eyes out like some bitch.

"Thanks." She choked out, pushing the tears back. Those tears were meant for something more special than this. She'll be saving them for that time. "You're alright, Ren. People need to tell you that more often."

With Nora around, it was more like Ren needed others to push him down so his head didn't get big. Even he can get arrogant if he wasn't careful.

As the two proceeded to walk through the streets to find the others, the ninja noticed the brawler lagged behind to star at a window. Stepping back to not leave her behind, he saw what building she was standing in. As she looked at him, Ren saw her contemplating whether to go through with it or not.

"Are you sure you want to go through with it?" He asked.

"I'm not. But I know I want to." She said biting her lower lip. "Does that make sense?"

Living with Nora for so long, a lot of things made sense to Ren. Going into something when not sure was one of those things that began to make sense as he grew up. "Yes."

"…Can you hold my hand through this?"

Seeing Yang needed some support for this, he extended his hand out for her to hold. Walking into the building, he could tell she was nervous by how sweaty her palms felt in his grasp. Despite that though, she wasn't turning back.

 **Three Hours later**

 **South Gate**

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were the first to arrive at the south gate. Weiss had her hands full with the two trying to sneak their preferred foods in, but she managed. After all, you'd have to be blind to not notice a basket full of cookies and tuna cans filled to the brim in the cart. While Blake was mature enough to let it go, it was her partner that proved stubborn as she tried to sneak her cookies into the cart.

After that, they ran into Jaune in the dust store with Nora shoving dust bottles into his hands. The Schnee took it upon herself to help the dunce in getting the proper containers and dust for him and his team. Luckily, his new quiver had five slots at the bottom for different dust types.

After the three member of RWBY finished with their dust supply, they separated from team JNPR to the ammunitions store. Since Ruby was a regular, it was easy to get what they needed quickly. Now all that left was to wait for the others.

"We're here." Nora announced her and her two teammates' arrival.

Hearing her leader humph at the appearance of Jaune, Blake didn't need mind reading powers to see she was still against him leaving his sword behind. Even when they met in the dust shop, she was set on ignoring the blonde leader. Luckily, living with her for some time gave the faunus an idea of how to get her to open up.

"So Jaune, what's your new weapon like?" The cat ninja asked, seeing Ruby's ears perk up at the mention of weapons.

"I was able to get this." Jaune held out the riser for them to see.

'Scammed' was the first thing that came to the three's minds. Before they said anything though, Jaune used his aura to open it up into its full form. Blake's plan worked as Ruby zipped in front of the blonde to see the bow's design.

Holding it in her hands, Ruby felt how light it was despite being made of pure metal. Pressing the button to compact it, Ruby 'ooh'ed at how simple it folded back to travel mode. Putting aura into it, she enjoyed how it sprung out in under a second. Her smile soon turned into a strained grit as she tried to pull the string back.

"Here." Jaune said, taking it out of her hands to pull. Once he had the maximum pull, he released and smiled on how silent it was. It was perfect in weight and noise. Even when he tested it in the firing range, the arrows flew straight with little to no arc.

"Do you have a name for it yet?" Ruby asked, finally willing to talk to him. Taking the bow back, she tried one more time to pull the string back but huffed after only getting sixty pounds in.

Thinking it over, Jaune forgot about giving it a name. This would the first weapon he gave a name to, so it had to be something special. Looking it over, he tried to think of a proper name for it. It was whitish silver and had black strings with an acid finish on the riser to show it was Damascus. He bet it'd even shine in the night.

"…Luminight." He decided, holding it out with a proud smile. It sounded catchy. Looking at the others, the only ones who didn't agree were Nora and Ruby. "I think it matches."

Letting him keep the name, Ruby went to his arrow supplies to see what he had so far. Pulling one out, she saw it was coated in lightning dust at the tip. Checking the others there was gravity, fire, and ice. Since Jaune had thirty-two arrows, that meant there were eight of each.

After finishing looking over her fellow leader's weapon, Ruby went back to waiting for Ren and Yang with the others. After just standing for a few minutes, she was getting bored. Looking at Nora, she wasn't the only one. The poor girl was counting the little specks of dirt on the ground to pass the time. How boring was that! Leaning in, Ruby gasped hearing the bomber was already counting over nine thousand – where was that patience back in Beacon?

Ruby needed something to do – someone to talk to. Turning to Weiss, she and Blake were having one of those mature conversations she didn't care about. With how they were, she wouldn't even get a word in. Turning to Jaune and Pyrrha, the champion was sharing her time in Mistral while asking Jaune of his life in Ansel. On the one hand she could go join in to hear what the other side of the world was like – on the other _other_ hand, she'd be interrupting the two bonding. She could practically see Pyrrha glowing as she had her time with her crush, and Ruby was not going to be the third wheel that ruined that time.

Just as she was about to burst from boredom, she saw Ren step out of the corner and point to them. Seeing someone to talk to now, Ruby zoomed over with Nora following close behind. Both were wondering why he was just standing at the corner and not coming up to them though.

"-look fine." They heard the ninja say with a sigh.

"This was a mistake, Ren." They heard Yang on the other side of the corner. "Maybe I can go back and salvage what's left."

"What's going on Ren?" Nora and Ruby asked at the same time, hearing a small eep from Yang after.

As Nora and Ruby peeked to where Yang was, they saw the reaper's older sister covering her head with her brown jacket. She looked ridiculous just standing there casually like nothing was off.

"Hey guys." Her muffled voice said as she waved. They doubted she could even see them at all. "How's it hanging? You been waiting long?"

"Yang, you look fine." Ren said once more, pulling the jacket off her head.

"No, wait!" She begged, covering her face with her hands. It didn't do much though. Not hearing anything, she peeked an eye open to see the reactions of Nora and Ruby.

Ruby couldn't believe what she was seeing. She never thought she'd ever see the day at all. Yang Xiao Long cut her hair!

 **With the others one walk later**

The brawler was fidgeting in place as her friends complimented her on her new look. So she got a haircut! It's not like it meant anything, right? Apparently it was for Ruby, since she kept gaping at her and pinching her cheeks to see if she was dreaming.

She just cut it short so it was now shoulder length. It's not like she shaved the whole thing off or turned it into a Mohawk. For some reason though, she felt lighter. Maybe her hair added some extra weight that made her feel heavy. Or maybe now that she felt she looked nothing like Raven besides her face she felt better about herself. She's Yang _beat yo' ass_ Xiao Long and she's her own gal. Getting used to the feeling of having the wind blow on her back was something she'd be getting used to. It was tingly.

"You look super cute with your hair short." Nora said, bouncing the brawler's hair in her hand. "Welcome to the short hair club."

Swatting the bomber's hand away, Yang reflexively went to pull her hair forward but only got a short grasp. That was another thing she'd have to get used to.

"Can we just go meet up with dad now?" She asked, looking to her sister. Seeing as she was still staring at her in shock, she looked to the next leader. "Jaune?"

"Let's head off then." The blonde announced for her sake. Sparing a glance at the brawler one more time, Jaune had to admit she looked really good with her hair short.

"Stop staring already!"

After one silent walk, they made it to Taiyang who was standing with three old civilians holding farming tools. The moment the dad saw his eldest with her hair cut short, he initially acted like Ruby and just gaped until Yang punched his arm with an embarrassed pout.

"So, uh, looks like you guys are ready." He said to the group. "For our mission, we'll be escorting these fine gentlemen out into the forests near where we were camping."

"These are the hunters that'll be protecting us?" One of the civilians said with a grunt. "They're no older than my own grandson."

When Taiyang said 'fine gentlemen,' he really meant assholes with how much they complained. Ignoring that one old coot, he continued to brief the kids. "The mayor wants to expand the village, and these guys need protection while they scope out the lands to see if it's possible for a new project."

Villages were always trying to expand. The larger the place, it meant more people. And the more people, the more income. And the more income, meant more security and surplus. If they played their cards right and made sure to keep the people happy, then they'd scrounge enough dough to have a good defense against Grimm and bandits.

"This'll be our mission for the remaining two weeks. With the eight of you plus me and Qrow, this mission should be easy."

"Where is Qrow?" Nora asked, not seeing the drinker in the group.

Hearing a burp, they looked a tree to see said drinker staring down at them in a lazy daze. At least Nora's question was answered.

Shaking his head at his teammate's bad habit, Tai turned to the civilians with a sheepish grin. "We'll be meeting you guys tomorrow at seven."

"Yeah." One of the old men grunted, walking off with the others following.

As they passed the others, one of them narrowed their eyes on Blake while the other's gaze slowed on Jaune. Blake noticed it but decided to pay him no mind.

"Are all clients like that?" Ruby asked with arms crossed.

"Not all of them." Her dad said, watching the old men walk away. "At least they're honest. It's the smiling ones you have to be careful of. You never know if they're lying or cheating you."

Weiss should know from experience. She practically lived with people who lied while smiling.

"So do we head back to camp, or …?" Ren asked after an awkward silence fell on them.

"May as well rent a room here." The man said with a shrug. "We're meeting those farmers here in the morning so best to be close by."

That got a few cheers from them. While Nora, Ren, and Jaune were fine roughing it and showering in a river; the others preferred running water that didn't have the usual bugs and dirt. Although Blake will miss the fish.

After finding a motel close to their meeting point, the group got to room assignments. With Taiyang and Qrow around, team JNPR's debauchery way of living was denied. The two knew what being hormonal teen boys was like and putting a healthy guy and a girl in a room together was just asking for possible noises in the night.

"It'll be a boys night in." Qrow said, pulling Jaune and Ren close to him. "Shake off that feminine stuff those girls put on you and bring out your inner man."

Rolling their eyes, they just went with it. The girls got to have a room next to them and from the sound of things, they were all fighting for the shower – except for Nora though. She was currently in the guys' room playing cards with her leader and Ren.

"I swear you two are ganging up on me." The ninja narrowed his eyes as he looked at the chips piling up on his leader and partner's side while he had only three left. "How am I the only one losing?"

"Maybe I just got better at lying." Jaune said with a smile. It was the kind that said 'I am totally against you.'

If Ren was to be honest, he missed these kinds of nights. Before the shit hit the fan, this was the stuff they did a lot when they weren't out trying to solve crime or panic about killers in the school. It was just him and his team bonding over a game and having laughs in between – a simpler life he missed.

"My turn~." Nora sang, taking a card out of Jaune's hand. Ren's eyes twitched seeing him lift a card for her to specifically take. "Woud you look at that. Looks like I win again, Ren!"

"I don't wanna play anymore." He pouted, putting his cards down.

Instead of whining about it though, Nora took his surrender in stride with a dance while throwing her chips in the air. Yup, this was definitely something he missed. Looking at Nora's smiling face as she jumped on the bed, he couldn't stop himself from cracking a small one himself.

 **Night time**

Jaune could not for the life of him sleep at all. Turning to Ren, he saw the ninja was out like a log perfectly still. How was it the ninja could sleep through this?!

Back in the campsite, the place was so open sound didn't bounce off the walls. But now that they were in a closed room, the sound was trapped! Tai and Qrow were snoring so loud it was hard for Jaune to sleep a wink. Even plugging his ears did no good because they grunted every five seconds!

Getting up, he picked up his weapon and a few arrows to go outside. He'd take his chances with the cold than sleep through all that noise. Stepping out, he was surprised to see Pyrrha closing the door to her room.

"Oh." She whispered, surprised to see her partner up like her. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"Not with the two guys in there snoring." He said, thumbing to his door. "Ren must be a master at sleep since it doesn't even bother him. You?"

"Apparently, Yang also snored in her sleep." Pyrrha grumbled, wrapping her blanket around her. "Her team and Nora got used to it, but I haven't."

It looked like they were both sleeping outside tonight. Pyrrha was even hoping to enjoy sleeping on a soft bed again after the ground lost it's charm. Seeing Jaune holding his bow and a few arrows, she raised a brow. "Where are you going?"

"I thought I'd shoot a few arrows to clear my mind. Maybe I'd tire myself out I'd be able to sleep when I came back." He explained, twirling one of the arrows in his hand.

"Mind if I join you?"

Not minding at all, he let her tag along as they found a place for him to practice. Patch wasn't that industrialized so finding a grassy area with a lone tree wasn't so hard. As Jaune warmed up before firing at a tree twenty feet away, Pyrrha sat on the grass watching him. Staring at him, she'd felt he's changed a lot from the moment they first met. He was still the sweet kind boy she loved, but just a bit more mature. After he was done stretching and fired the first shot, she clapped when it hit the tree with no problem.

"Do you think I could try?" She asked before he fired his second.

"Sure Pyr." He replied, holding his bow out for her to take a shot.

She's never really used a bow before, but the basics weren't lost to her. One of her opponents in her second tournament fight was a bow user so she had to study up on them for weaknesses and ways of mobility. Pulling the string back, she felt it fight with her and made her hand tremble as she released. Despite that though, she managed to hit the tree with her arrow just beneath Jaune's.

"It's not as easy as you make it." She said, handing the bow back.

"It was still a nice shot." He complimented, firing another arrow just above her own.

Seeing him smirk, Pyrrha knew she was being challenged. Narrowing her eyes, she held her hand out for him to give her Luminight. On a side note, Jaune was right thinking the bow would shine at night – looks like the name was sticking.

Taking aim and firing, the champion gave a smirk of her own when her arrow managed to be a centimeter above his first arrow. She even flicked her ponytail in his face to taunt him. When he tried to outdo her shot and failed, he laughed in defeat.

"Ok. You win this round." He conceded, doing a mock bow. "You have bested this archer and have claimed the title of number one. What comes next to Pyrrha Nikos?"

"I'm going to Dustyland!" She mock cheered, waving a fist in the air.

Now that she thought about it, even she's changed since coming to Beacon and meeting Jaune. When was it that she'd ever joked with friends or confessed her feelings to someone? Back when she was a celebrity, she had to always be courteous and kind without showing she could get angry or scared. But lately, she could show if she was annoyed or worried, and make a quip or joke without worrying of offending someone.

Laughing at her own joke, the two collected the arrows in the tree and just sat on the soft dewy grass enjoying the cool air. Seeing Jaune rubbing his exposed arms, Pyrrha scooted closer and draped some of the blanket on him. Resting her head on his shoulder, she was surprised when he leaned into it and even held her hand.

' _This is nice.'_ She thought, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling as she slept. Come the next morning, it was back into the fray.

 **END**

 **AN: And that's another chapter done. If any of you are wondering on how short Yang's hair is, think young Nia from TTGL after Yoko cut her hair. I miss that anime. As for Jaune's new look, think of the Desert Voe outfit but with a sleeveless shirt and in his color palette.**

 **I'm sensing two armies taking their sight on me. One is the Arkos who think something bad will happen, while the other is the Arkos haters. Well I got some bad news for you! I've got a whole bunch of incendiary arrows and other shippers ready to defend me (at least I hope.) I've burnt the white flag and there's no such thing as a surrender!**

 **In other news, I had this idea of Cinder having Pyrrha's soul inside her. I might make a oneshot of it later so look forward to that.**

 **This is Aloehisja hoping you enjoyed. Read and Review.**


	22. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY**

 **AN: Hi guys. It's Aloehisja back at ya with another RWBY+J chapter.**

 **Sorry if you've been waiting long but I've been practicing my drawing skills and submitting to Deviantart, working on a group thesis, and 2D animation assignments.**

 **But enough of that. Let's get to the story.**

 **Chapter 21:** Homefront

Velvet sighed as she sat alone at her table again. For the past few weeks, its been like this since Ruby and Jaune left. With the festival nearing in a couple of weeks, everyone was busy trying to prepare. Coco was doing her maintenance on both her outfit and her weapon, Yatsu was doing his usual katas, and Fox was …doing whatever he did. As for her, she was doing her own form of training.

With the ability to mimic anyone just from a glance and what her weapon was, sometimes things came too easy for her. She could memorize Pyrrha's style to a T and perform it in a picture perfect way like her, shadow Yang's brawler style in perfect timing, and even perform Sun's gun-chucks as fluidly as him. It came easy to her. And it's because things like that came easy was why she yearned for the simple things in life. Simple things like geeking over things with friends, or complaining on diets and such like an average girl would do.

Picking up her camera, she took a quick shot of a passing student that had his flaming sword out. That made thirty nine pictures today of weapons and eighteen mimicry she's done over the past three days – a total of ninety one weapons and sixty four styles she's copied. Sadly, only a few of those styles weren't complete garbage. A draw back of her semblance was that she copied bad things too that made her useless. Things like bad habits a fighter would do in combat like whirl a fist or make a pose before performing an attack. It's why Coco is strict on her not to waste her photos and try and stick to a style she learnt herself. The problem was that with her mimic skill always on, it became hard to differentiate what was hers and what was someone else's.

"Hello?" Someone called out to her, waving a hand in front of her face.

Turning to the person, she saw it was Emerald. Putting on a smile, the bunny faunus greeted her back.

"You were really out of it." The green haired girl said, taking a seat next to her.

After team RWBY and JNPR left, Velvet made a friend in Emerald Sustrai. She just walked over to her one day, and Velvet found a connection with her. She was so thoughtful and caring, and she even listened to the bunny faunus rant. They didn't meet on a daily basis but when they did, it was refreshing.

"Sorry about that, Emerald." She apologized, putting her camera away. "Just mulling over a few things. How have you been going?"

"I think I should be the one asking you that." The thief in hiding said, fishing for information.

After the two teams left, Emerald moved on to their close friends to get some dirt on them. So far, they found some weaknesses they could exploit in the team that made them useful to Cinder's plan in what was to come. Velvet was the biggest help since she was in close contact with Ruby Rose. And the last she heard, the little prodigy was stuck in a mountain guarding old fogies. With her and her friends out of the way, things were going smoothly for her. All of Vale was now split as civilians and hunters were at each other's throats. One side wanted them put under control, while the other protested they were doing the best they could.

And it wasn't just the city that was going through a rift. Beacon was being split too. Some students that came from civilian backgrounds were empathizing with what locals were talking about, and it drove some teams apart. It was getting even better once it was announce James Ironwood was placed in charge of the security of Vale. Student of Atlas who were used to the treatment gave full support to their general, but everyone else was against it and weren't afraid to make it known.

Looking away from the faunus, Emerald glanced to the side to see another conflict arising. Looks like a Haven student was picking a fight with an Atlas soldier with one of the students siding with the authority. Then things started to escalate when a few more students sided with the Haven student. Suppressing a smirk, she turned back to Velvet to get some more information on the others.

"So how are things with your team?" She broke the ice. Not like she needed to know anything. The virus Cinder put into the computers gave them access to all the students in the tournament. Not only that, they also got personal records on the people they were targeting. All perfect candidates for what they had planned.

"The usual." Velvet shared, ignoring the battle around them. "We're all preparing for the tournament in our own ways. How is your team doing? I rarely see them with you."

"I guess we're just the same." The thief faked a laugh. "We're not really that in sync with one another, but we do know how to adapt to fit each other's moves. We sort of just feel each other out without thinking."

"Don't think, feel." The faunus mused, remembering a quote. "Coco usually tells us that during team ups when we fall behind."

"Sounds like she's all high in wisdom." The mint haired girl commented, doing what she can to get Velvet comfortable.

"Among other things." A new voice said behind them.

Turning around, there was Coco in her school uniform with some changes. The leader of CFVY was not a fan of plaid at all and it showed. Unlike other Beacon girls that wore the plaid skirt, Coco rebelled and decided to wear the male uniform in her own custom size. Unlike the male version though, she kept the brown inner vest, modified the blazer by cropping the bottom, and ordered the male extra small size so the figure of her legs were shown. And it was all done to match her beret and sunglasses too.

"Y'know Ems, the way you keep hanging around Velvet here makes me mighty suspicious." The leader said, taking a seat to sandwich Emerald between her and her teammate. "Makes me think you're after something."

Emerald had to play it cool. She was an expert at lying, and this wannabe fashionista wasn't going to blow her cover. "Really?"

"Its mostly in how you wanna get to know her so much and the people she's close to." Coco stated her reason bluntly. "If I didn't see you hanging out with your boyfriend a few times, I might've thought – nevermind."

The thief didn't even have to act like she was gagging. This girl really thought her and Mercury were something? She'd rather kiss a flooded urinal than lock lips with that bozo. If he was the last man alive in all of Remnant with her as the only woman not barren, she'd sooner try to learn how to procreate with herself just so there wouldn't be any of his hell spawns of him running in the world.

"We're nothing like that." She pounded her fist on the table to show she meant it. "He's a lousy excuse for a partner and I'd rather turn lesbian than kiss his ugly mug. …Besides, I know for a fact he's very _pink_ in his choices of _men_."

"Really?" Coco muttered, clicking her tongue in disappointment. "It's always the hot ones that are either taken or gay."

If she was going to be lying, she might as well put some other stuff to ruin Mercury's chances of anything.

"Trying to distract me aside, I know what you're up to." The fashionista said, lowering her shades to glare at Emerald. Seeing her gulp, Coco smirked seeing she found her guilty. It was time to set her straight. "You're trying to get information on us for the tournament."

The illusion Emerald was planning to use was cancelled when Coco said that. In a way it was true, but it was something she could play off easily. Raising her hands up in mock guilt, she decided to put some half truth into her words. "My team leader wanted me to get some info on who she thought would be going into the final and semi-finals. Not like I got anything so far. Velvet's been tight lipped on you guys and hasn't given me any helpful clues."

In reality, they already had a lot on them. Beacon's system recorded fights each student had and also had some personal data on their history. Some very confidential stuff on their history that worked to Cinder's advantage. It was amazing how her leader could create so many contingencies, she had contingencies to the contingencies. The only thing they needed was updates on the missing teams.

"So this thing we're doing of you asking how I am. This is you gathering information?" Velvet asked with a pensive look on her face.

"Yeah." Emerald said bluntly, knowing that jig was up.

"And those times you followed to look at my pictures?" The thief may as well go honest since it wouldn't hurt.

"That one was just hanging out." The mint girl really did enjoy looking at some of the pictures Velvet took. Yeah she's helping in the plan for the fall of kingdoms, but that doesn't mean she cant appreciate some of the simpler things in life. Like a stolen moment forever frozen in a confined frame. If she did have the time for things, she'd probably steal a good camera to take her own pictures. "Looking at you take pictures sort of inspires me to try and take my own."

There was an awkward silence as Velvet tried to mull over it all. On one hand, Emerald was using her to get info on her team and friends. On the other, she came clean and did admit that they were bonding. Its not like she could be that mad at her for following her leader's orders. Ruby's shared how Weiss planned on spying on the new arrivals to scope the competition. Everyone wanted to win, after all.

"So long as you aren't going to pry me for any information, I'm willing to overlook you spying." The bunny faunus said, getting a smile from Emerald.

"I'm fine with that." The thief nodded, relaxing once more. Her real objective was to plant herself as a normal student to avoid any suspicion on her and her team and maintain the image. Velvet's leader just made it a lot easier. "Not a spying question or anything, but any news on when Ruby get's back?"

"Can't say." Velvet replied, tinkering with the settings on her camera. "They're probably still high up in the mountains guarding civilians or retrieving lost outposts."

That was useless information, but if she was going to blend in may as well act the part. "What does guarding civilians and retrieving outposts have to do with huntsmen stuff? I mean if it was a thing like killing Grimm or taking down bandits, I'd understand but that sounds like menial labor meant for military civilians."

Thinking it over, Velvet couldn't think of a good answer. It's not like they went off on a training mission to unlock their full potential or anything groundbreaking. And Emerald was right that any civilian worth their salt could pick up a rifle to stand guard.

"It's to put some humility in them." Coco piped in, reminding them she was still there. "Those two teams are the top dogs in their own year, it's like looking at a slow train crash waiting to happen."

"Coco." Her teammate admonished her.

"I'm just saying it like it is Vel." The fashionable leader shrugged. "They have a prodigy that skipped two years ahead, an heiress to a dust corporation, a four time champion, and have you seen the other five?"

"Still though." Velvet muttered, not liking how Coco described their predicament.

"And I thought you were the chill one." Emerald muttered with hand under chin. In another time and another life, she may have been good friends with CFVY's leader. But for now, she was a target and a key to her master's plan.

"I prefer to say it how it is." She shrugged, stretching her legs out and looking at the growing scene of students fighting in front of them. "Word gets around to the higher years of who to look out for. And when new comers show up making waves that fast, you know people'll start talking."

"Oho?" The thief raised a brow.

Clicking her teeth, Coco felt she might have said too much. "Nice try, green. I'm not ratting out anything else."

Holding her hands out in defeat, Emerald played the role of the loser. Its not like it'd be a role she'd play for long. Hearing a ringtone and a gasp from Velvet, the two girls turned to her to see an elated smile on her face. Looking to the message received, they smiled too for different reasons. Everything was going according to plan.

 **Elsewhere**

Everything was not going according to plan. Neo sat on her couch polishing her blade as she waited for the inevitable. Since the Breach and teams RWBY and JNPR leaving, Neo's been trying to make her own plans come to fruition. So far, she hasn't had any luck since the key components weren't in place. Her attempt to contact the cowboy didn't go so well since it seemed his scroll was inactive – so now she was completely alone. She didn't have the resources or man power Cinder had, but dammit she wasn't going to bow so easily.

Getting up and peeking out of her window, she looked at the airship Roman was aboard. His stupid plan to use those two teams as a smokescreen to run away was all gone. Now he was where _Cinder_ wanted him to be, and now it was impossible to get out of _Cinder's_ plans. Stomping back to the couch, she picked up her weapon and swung it around. She's been trying to think of her own escape route, but every idea she had didn't count the master thief stuck in Ironwood's overcompensating ship. There was one idea of just stealing the ship and riding off to wherever, but a ship that size could be easily spotted.

Her hands were tied and there was no way out of Cinder's plan. Letting out a silent sigh, she put her weapon down and plopped herself on the couch. Worse came to worse, that psycho lady with the red sword might appear again. Hearing a message pop up on her scroll, Neo wondered who was messaging her at this moment. It was too early for Cinder to ask for anything and her two lackeys didn't even have her number.

Grabbing her scroll, she saw that it was empty. Looking around, she found it came from one of her disposable scrolls. Only two people had that number, and one of them was locked up. Looking at the recipient's name, she smirked feeling a plan forming. She only had one thing to type.

' _Yee-haw.'_

 **Ozpin's Office**

The headmaster smirked as he stared at the report Qrow sent him. He had a feeling Taiyang had a hand in the report by how detailed and organized the whole thing was. Scrolling through the written reports, he focused more on the videos the two sent. Teams RWBY and JNPR were truly becoming protectors with what he was seeing. Rescues from Grimm in the forests, saving people from natural disasters, late night guard duties, and escort missions that went smoothly.

But they weren't the only ones to give reports. Teams RWBY and JNPR each made their own reports of their experience in the wilds and their jobs. One report struck him with the most interest. A mission to split up and secure the abandoned outposts far out in the wilds. Partners were mixed once more, and each reports was interesting in some way. But the reports he stuck to the most were of Lie Ren and Yang Xiao Long. His reason?

Sightings of a black bird circling around specific people. Qrow and Taiyang didn't hide their message either in their reports. It was clear who that black bird was.

Raven was a bright individual. She had as much promise and skill as her brother. But unlike her brother, she wasn't one to listen to reason or see things in anyone else's way. She was one of the mistakes he had made happen all those years ago. He should have fought to keep her in his office for counseling and show her the right way. But he didn't. He put faith in her that she'd see the right from the wrong when a firm hand was what she needed.

Swiping pictures, Ozpin stopped at the sight of three individuals he feared for the most - Blake Belladonna, Pyrrha Nikos, and Jaune Arc. He wasn't afraid of who they were, but of the path they may fall on if not taken seriously. Gripping his shaking hand, he tried to calm himself. Yang's report stated how she found the two girls close to killing each other during an incident looking for their friend in the Grimm forests. Qrow's report on the Arc had him curious of the boy's semblance, but also worry for his state of mind. It was obvious why Raven wanted those three – the fact they had shown the instinct to kill with full resolve.

From Lie Ren's report and concerns, Ozpin narrowed his eyes as he studied the green ninja's partner. What was it that drew Raven to this cheerful girl? She was clearly the opposite of what Raven looked for when searching for new tribe members. Bubbly, naïve, and loud – all things Raven absolutely hated. It didn't help that there were holes in the reports. Miss Valkyrie's reports ran on and had some details exaggerated, but it held some consistencies with the others – all but one. The incident with the Baku Grimm. Mister Lie reported he was unconscious the whole time Nora carried him, so he wasn't fully sure what his partner did while he was out. As for Nora's report on that time, there was nothing. She skipped over it completely with a simple 'stuff happened' then jumped to finding her leader.

There was a secret Nora was hiding, and it could be the reason why Raven was also interested in her. Looking over Nora's history, there wasn't much to go on. An orphan, self taught in wielding a hammer, passed the physical exams and scraped by in the written tests, and was average in her current tests.

Massaging his temples, he tried to rid himself of the migraine forming. It was bad enough with the Queen and her associates but Raven acting out too?

"If things were that easy, then everyone would have done it." He told himself, trying to give himself reason to not give up.

Looking back at the videos, he was impressed by their immense growth. They were still children in his eyes, but looking at them he felt sad to see them forced to grow up so fast. In another time, they may have just been regular young adults trying to find their place in the world – but it wasn't written in the stars. Something else was written.

A young girl in red with a power she didn't know she had – waiting to come forth.

An heiress locked in her own battle of pride and prejudice.

A young woman with a heart as gold as her hair, but fragile like glass.

A faunus on a road to redemption, not knowing when she is redeemed.

A young man conflicted whether he is himself or his family name.

A champion that's placed on the top, but never seen as herself.

A man of little words, but plenty in his heart.

And a girl who smiles and cheers despite all the troubles.

Eight pieces in his hand, yet Ozpin felt unsure. He wasn't a fool to treat them like chess pieces. No, they were far more valuable than that – and just as unpredictable. His mistake from Raven has shown that not all would side with him. He dreaded to think what would happen if one or all were to become his enemy.

"Ozpin?" Glynda entered his office, walking out of the elevator.

"Yes, Glynda." The headmaster straightened up, showing an air of calm.

"I've received news from Qrow that the children will be returning in two days." Despite her stern face, Ozpin could hear the small bit of cheer in her tone.

It's not a surprise for him to know she'd be happy. She deeply cared for all her students and only wanted the best for them. She took pride in their growth and was happy to know she was at least a part of it even in a small way.

"You've heard right, Glynda." Ozpin said, showing a few videos she may not have had.

After she skimmed through them, she gave his scroll back with a bit of a beam in her eyes. "Impressive. It seems they've truly grown and matured in the time away."

Ozpin agreed. That was the most obvious just by looking at the video. Two days, though. What could happen in that amount of time?

 **In Patch**

"Bad news guys." Nora said, dumping two broken shields and a shattered Magnhild. "They're broken."

Jaune and Pyrrha groaned as they knew this would happen. They at least counted themselves lucky they didn't break during their missions. The feeling of luck died when Ruby walked in and saw the broken weapons. After the shrill scream of terror, she passed out and was dragged to a tent by her sister and dad. Looking back to the broken weapons, the three hoped the weapons smith was good with rush repairs.

 **END**

 **AN: So its just a transition, and a timeskip. I know its short, but I'm swamped with tons of stuff. This is just to show the story isn't canceled.**

 **At first I was going to have the group find a bandit camp and then some occultists that worshipped and ate Grimm, but then I think the rating would have to go up when I thought of adding the sacrifices to appease their Ursa god (Yang was captured, stripped naked, and was caged to be fed as a 'virgin' sacrifice). There was also going to be a thing where Nora decapitates a guy by going berserk and ripping his head off from his shoulders and punching a mountain from the inside to cause a cave in. And I also added cannibals wanting to eat Ruby for being young.**

 **So the two teams are returning back to Beacon, stuff is changed, and the update might be when I take my Christmas break. Currently under tons of stress because of thesis and video productions. This is sort of like a stress reliever.**

 **This is Aloehisja saying hope you enjoyed.**


	23. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

 **AN: Hey there guys. Aloehisja is fully recovered. Thank you readers for being supportive. I'm getting better, and I've let go of most of my pains. Some I keep as lessons in life though.**

 **Abel Sephaos: Thanks for the offer. I'm also a fan of your story Tigerlily. I may not be a fan of harems, but I still enjoy reading your story and like the reason behind the harem.**

 **LordOwl: I guess some writers aren't comfortable telling they have depression. Even IRL it's hard to admit to friends and family.**

 **Kaiokenkaizer: thanks for the support. Also Jaune is a good tactician for combat, but matters concerning aura and how to use it are complicated. The whole story has shown he hasn't used aura that much and it was never discussed to him.**

 **I'd answer more stuff, but the story awaits!**

 **Chapter 22:** Back in Action

Standing alone by a grave, Ruby rubbed her arms as she felt the winds get colder. It was fall now and the Vytal Festival was today. Her training with her dad and Qrow was obvious by her appearance. Her legs were a lot more muscular than before, and her abdomen was a bit more tone. There was no cure for her cheeks though – she still had a bit of her baby fat. Heating her hands up, she knelt by her mom's grave.

"Hi mom." She started, feeling there was a lot to catch up on. "It's been long. I didn't tell you, but I made it into Beacon. Me and Yang are on a team and I was made the leader. Team RWBY. …Heh. It's a little confusing sometimes. I was also made the leader! That's something. It's a little crazy but I've managed. Yang can be a hand full."

Laughing shortly at her joke, her smile fell. "Dad got to tell me some stuff about you. I wish I got to know you more. I didn't know you were the team leader or that… that you had the same problems I'm going through now."

Fighting back tears, she put on a brave face. "I wish you were here to tell me how to get through it. I've got friends and dad to help along with Yang, but I still cant let it go. I failed so bad that people got hurt. Uncle Qrow says to get stronger so the mistakes never happen again, but I wish I could've fixed the mistakes I made."

Feeling a strong gust blow, she felt it was her mom's way of protesting. "I know. Dad's told me there's no way of turning back time. I even looked into it – the science is impossible. All I can do is keep moving forward like the rest of my friends."

Hearing a bark behind her, she didn't need to look back to know her dad and Zwei were waiting. "I guess its time for me to go. I love you mom. I'll try and come by again."

Leaving the grave, Ruby nodded to her dad as the ship bringing her to the coliseum was ready. It was time to get down to business.

 **Amity Coliseum**

"Watch your back!" Weiss shouted as she pulled Blake out of the way from a sniper shot. Blake said a quick thanks before dashing to the source of the shot.

It was the first round of the tournament and team RWBY were squaring up against a team from Mistral, team ABRN. Ruby and Yang were teaming up against the leader Arslan while the heiress and Blake distracted the other three. With Weiss' ability to control the distance and Blake's speed it was easy to keep them at bay. Summoning a glyph, Weiss smirked when she launched Bolin out of the ring. Just because she was meant to distract didn't mean she couldn't take them out if she could.

"And Bolin is disqualified by ring out by Weiss Schnee." Oobleck commented on the speaker. Port was next to him also commentating on the event being filmed live across all nations. "I must say Peter, this match is turning out to be one-sided for team ABRN. Since their return from exile, team RWBY seems to be showing the world how greatly they've improved."

"The results we're seeing today make it obvious, professor." Port said, getting a muttered 'doctor' out of Bart. Hearing a crash and a scream, the portly man turns back to the ring to see Nadeer and Reese tied up and outside the ring. "Oh, I missed it! Let's go back to the recording to see what happened."

On the big screen, the video showed Blake swiftly dodging sniper rounds with Weiss covering her from Reese's shots. When she got close enough, she threw her weapon and wrapped Nadeer up. With Weiss' help, she launched the tied up man into Reese's path and knocked her off her board. Wrapping up the two together, Weiss launched them in the direction of the still flying board and out the ring. The last image frozen on screen was Nadeer's terrified face and Reese wide eyed from the speed.

"Astounding teamwork." Bart commented, graying out N and R's picture form the screen. "Let's see how Miss Rose and Xiao Long are handling themselves."

Arslan was the toughest person to fight, which was why Yang and Ruby had to take her on together. The sisters were a good duo once Ruby learnt a bit of hand to hand. She learnt her hands were useless in a fight, but she her legs made her a true kicker. Add Crescent Rose to her new style and she was a beast next to Pyrrha and Yang. The leader of ABRN wasn't giving an easy victory though with how well she was keeping up with the two. She wasn't just strong like Yang, but flexible too. She had signs of damage, but she gave the sisters a run for their money.

"Up high." Yang told her sister, stretching an arm out for Ruby to vault on. Once she was up in the air, Yang charged forward and smashed a fist into Arslan's guard. Stepping back, Ruby delivered an axe kick that pushed the other leader back with guard broken.

Hearing a whistle behind her, the little reaper jumped and curled into a ball. Feeling hands on her feet, she kicked off and landed a flying kick into Arslan's chest. Kicking off with a black flip, she tagged in for Yang to come in with the final punch that threw the leader out of the ring. When the buzzer rang, the crowd cheered at the match conclusion. Oobleck and Port made their comments but the audience drowned their voices.

"Team RWBY, represent!" Yang whooped, soaking in the crowd's applause. Looking to the downed leader, she reached a hand out in good sportsmanship to the downed leader. "Great match. You're a real tough gal."

"Same to you." Arslan gripped Yang's hand. "You and your sister got me good there. Next time, I want a rematch one on one."

"I'll hold you to it." The brawler smirked. Turning around, she saw Ruby and the others chatting. It was great to be back in the city.

Scanning the crowd, she sucked in her teeth seeing Cinder and her team applauding them. The team wanted to end the match quickly without showing too much of their improvements, but ABRN wasn't a simple pushover. They didn't know what their plan was, but she had a feeling it wasn't good with the White Fang involved. RWBY and JNPR still had the element of surprise and misinformation on their side, but she didn't know if it would be enough. But whatever happens, they weren't going to go down so easy.

 **Courtyard**

"I'm starving." Ruby groaned, clutching her gut. Yang and Weiss agreed with Blake's stomach talking for her. They felt a bit guilty not being able to see team CFVY's match, but their stomachs were in need of sustenance. Feeling around her skirt pockets for her wallet, Ruby started panicking while looking around her to find her money.

"I think you might've dropped this." Emerald's voice said behind her.

Freezing for a second, Ruby schooled her features to a mask of sweetness and relief. Since their return from Patch, Emerald has been hanging around them close. While they were away, the mint haired girl wormed her way into their circle of friends. Velvet did warn them that the thief's leader ordered her to spy on them. Well, if Emerald was going to be fishing for information, then Ruby'd give her some.

"Oh, thank you so much!" She clasped her hands and ran to grab her wallet. When it was pulled away from her, she pouted. "Hey."

"Just pulling your leg." Emerald chuckled, tossing it into Ruby's hands. "You need to be more careful with your stuff."

"Yeah. Thanks for finding it." Ruby replied, pocketing her wallet. "I saw your match a few hours ago. Looks like we might be seeing you in the doubles match. Who will you be fighting with?"

"You already know my partner." The thief thumbed to Mercury looking at some boots. "I'd call him over but he's a little… weird."

The four made no comment when they saw him sniff the inside of the boot. When Emerald asked who they planned on sending out, they shared a look seeing a chance to mislead. Blake told them the signs of being caught lying was easy, so adding in half truths made it easier.

"We haven't made a final decision yet." The leader said with a shrug. "Whoever we pick gets to fight in the finals and a lot of us want to represent."

"Not me." Blake raised her hand. "I'll happily be a support in the doubles but I'll bow out of the finals."

Emerald wasn't surprised. The background they found on the secret faunus was that she shied away from spotlight. And knowing how predictable the team was, it was obvious Yang was going to be picked for the finals and doubles. The Schnee taking Blake's place was a possibility knowing the heiress' attitude and need to show off.

"Whatever decision you guys make, we still wont hold back if we go against one another." With that, she left them.

Once she was out of sight, Ruby checked her wallet and silently cursed seeing a few of her lien gone. What Emerald said sounded like it meant two things. Warning or not, they were taking them out. Hearing Blake's stomach growl again, they opted to go get food first.

Finding A Simple Wok stand, the girls sat down and ordered their meals. The extra carbs were going to be needed so it was fine if the proportions served were large. The only one whimpering about missing the camp food was Blake, and that was because they mostly ate fish and berries. There was the occasional deer, but they didn't want to grow too much on it.

When Weiss gave her card to pay for their meals, she was shocked to see it was declined. Ruby would have pitched in her hare of Lien, but her money was short a few. With their bowls taken away and Blake whimpering at the loss of her fish bowl, they were short lien and starving.

"That's just cruel." Nora's voice said to their left.

"Would you think they'd accept us paying for their meal?" Pyrrha's voice said, perking up a certain cat faunus' ears.

"You don't have to do that." Yang said, mostly out of courtesy and not pride. Blake would sooner sell her partner if she spoke those blasphemous words once more.

"But she can." The cat faunus said in desperation.

Sitting down with them, Pyrrha ordered for the meals back with four more bowls. Looking at team JNPR, they noticed it was one member short.

"Where's Jaune?" Yang asked, adding some soy sauce to her noodles. "You guys are fighting in a few hours."

Pyrrha told them their leader was currently at a meeting with Goodwitch. He was still under therapy, and was required to go over another mental stability test. Blake and Pyrrha along with Ruby went through the same after returning from the trip, but the teachers were making a special case with Jaune. Nora and Ruby protested how it was unfair for Jaune to be treated like a psychotic person, but Ren and Yang reigned them in. They understood after Taiyang told them of Raven, and wanted to take precautions. They knew the blonde was stable, but the teachers didn't and wanted to be sure – plus they could admit their opinions were bias.

Halfway into their bowls, Pyrrha felt hands covering her eyes and a chest behind her head. She didn't have to guess who it was she giggled and sat him down with them. Ren groaned at their display of affection with Nora smiling at how happy they were.

During their time in Patch, Taiyang separated Jaune from the others to teach him about aura. They were gone for a week at most but it felt longer to the young blonde. What happened was that Yang's dad locked him in a cave with little food and water, and no light to distract him from himself. The blonde was fine for a few days, but then he went mad trying to find something to talk to. That's when he encountered his demons and angels. He found his guilt, his shames, his regrets, fears, faults, and the things that he wished to reject about himself. It took a lot of cursing and crying, but he was able to accept his laws along with the good things about himself. Taiyang didn't need to open the cave for him, since Jaune broke out himself using his aura.

After that, the blonde's demeanor became less awkward and more confident. It was the confidence he needed that got him to finally reciprocate his feelings with his partner. It took a while, but they were able to work out how affectionate they could be with one another without pushing too far. And in the case they wanted to go further, Jaune made Pyrrha know she was the one to get the final say.

"So have they finally announced you as clinically sane yet?" The champion asked her leader and boyfriend.

"As sane as a hunter can be." Jaune replied, taking a bunch of noodles into his mouth. Feeling Pyrrha's eyes still on him he stopped eating. "What?"

She blinked not knowing she was staring. "Sorry. I'm just remembering how we've all changed a lot this year. It's nice."

She was so used to seeing her leader as that awkward scraggly boy she saw in the auditorium on the first day in Beacon. Seeing him now, he wasn't that scraggly boy anymore. He'd improved a lot. They all had in their own way.

"There are still some things that stayed the same." He smiled looking at her.

When her face started heating up, she turned back to her noodles and started eating it with gusto. Still feeling his eyes on her, she put her bowl down to scold him. "You should finish your bowl soon before the match starts. We can't have you cramping up before the fight."

"Yes dear." He teased, getting her to blush and go back to her bowl.

After being in the wilds eating nothing but fish and berries for so long, it was a bit strange for him to come back to city food. He wonders if it always tasted salty and oily than before. Looking at Ren, he could tell he was just eating to be respectful to the cook but wasn't really enjoying his food. Doing the same, he managed to finish his bowl but didn't feel as energized as he hoped. He was right though – it was really oily and salty that left a burning feeling in his gut.

Hearing someone taking a seat next to him, he turned to see a cute little girl with black hair in pigtails. Instead of ordering something she was staring at him with an expectant look like he owed her money. Hearing Pyrrha clear her throat, it was obvious she was wordlessly asking who the girl was. Behind her, the others were also watching.

"Can I help you?" He asked cautiously, moving his bowl away from her. Instead of answering, she smirked and blinked, changing her eyes from green to pink and brown. Gasping at knowing someone with those kinds of eyes, he looked around to check whether her team was close. "Neo?"

Placing a finger to her lips, she handed him a note before patting his cheek and walking off. Glancing at the others, she sent Pyrrha a smirk and Yang a taunting wink. Reigning in their want to act, they turned to the note Jaune was reading. It was a crudely drawn picture of Yang and Pyrrha with an x above their heads. Below were two simple words.

' _No finals.'_

The teams shared a look, wondering if this was a good idea or not. Looking at the time, they saw they had an hour before JNPR had to fight. Bowls forgotten, they went off to the only other private place they had – their dorm.

 **RWBY dorm**

After shutting the door and making sure no one was around to listen in on them, the two teams got down to business.

"Can she be trusted?" Yang asked, remembering her history with the little psycho. "She was with Torchwick on the train, but she might not be as loyal to him as we think."

"I think we can trust her." Jaune said while thumbing an arrow. "Her loyalty to Torchwick aside, I think she's as threatened by Emerald's teammate as the rest of us. From my interactions with her, she has her own agenda and they all seem to lead away from Emerald."

"…Cinder." Blake said after moments of being quiet. When all eyes were on her, she crossed her arms with eyes on the floor. "Her name is Cinder. Back in the train, I got Torchwick to tell me a few things. He doesn't know their exact goal, but the tournament is a part of it."

"If the breach was anything to go by, we can't let them succeed." Pyrrha muttered, clenching her fist. "What are the odds of us just dropping out of the tournament now and destroying their plans completely?"

"Not likely." Ren clicked his teeth in frustration. Pacing around, he cursed the luck they had. "We just came back from an exile to show we've improved. With us absent, they must have formed contingencies on other students to use."

It was true. Velvet shared how Emerald stuck to her like glue and hounded on the different teams, who were the misfits and the popular ones, and who she thought stood out from the crowd. If not them then someone else was going to bite the bullet, and none of them were willing to let that happen.

As they all sat silently, Weiss mulled over telling the professors. But that idea quickly went down the drain when she remembered they had no actual proof of Cinder's group causing any trouble. They didn't even have any clue of their plans or points connecting them to the Breach. At most, it'd cause an international problem if the teachers up and arrested a foreign team on baseless accusations. They could either take them on and retaliate when they showed their hands, or duck out and let someone else be the sacrifice. Once upon a time she might have done the latter, but being on a team changed her for the better.

"So we're all agreed to not use Yang and Pyrrha in the finals." The ninja said, getting nods from all of them. "That leaves us on who will be entering the doubles and who goes into the finals."

As eyes roamed around, they all tried to see who could be put up to the main event. Ruby would've been the first to raise her hand, but remembering how much she told Emerald about their team she doubted herself. Looking to her partner, she was also in conflict whether to go or not too. Schnee pride was well known to many and chances were that their enemies might use that against them. With Yang out that left-

"I'll do it." Blake stood forward with eyes hardened. "They might have dirt on you guys, but I doubt they have anything on me."

"But Blake-" Ruby was about to protest.

"Compared to you guys I've managed to keep my secrets well hidden." She cut her off. "With a Schnee, a prodigy that entered two years early, and someone like Yang; I'm completely overshadowed making me the safest to pick. No one knows I'm a faunus and my student data says human with a normal history. If they were digging dirt on all of us, then they'd see me as an extra in this team."

"Then that means I should be the one in the finals too." Jaune stood with her. Hearing Pyrrha silently protesting for him not to, he shook his head. "Pyr, I'm the same as Blake in this. Anything on me says I'm the least likely to be going into the finals. My win record is still zero in single combat, making me the most unexpected choice for them."

Just when she was about to say he was wrong, Ren cut in first.

"He's right." The ninja nodded with thumb to his chin. "There are no records on Jaune being competent. We know he's good, but Cinder's team doesn't. That makes him the best to enter."

"Thanks buddy." The blonde smiled, happy he was on his side. Looking to Nora, it was obvious she was in full support of him going. That only left one person. "I'd really like your support in this, Pyr."

Rubbing her arms, the champion looked to Ren and then Nora before looking at her boyfriend reaching a hand out to her. With a heavy breath, she took his hand and stood by him. "I'll stand by your decision."

Being pulled in, she relished in his warmth. Putting an ear to his chest, she could hear his heart pounding fast despite his calm demeanor. He was nervous, and scared, and unsure; but he was putting himself out for this so she and the others wouldn't get hurt. Just like in Forever Fall, she was going to stand back and let him fight. And just like then, if things got to obad then she'd jump in and pull him out - rules be damned.

Hearing the PA calling team JNPR, it was their turn to fight. Getting a good luck from team RWBY, the team ran out to get to the stadium.

 **Stadium**

"Afternoon folks." Port announced on the speaker. "Last match was something with team SSSN dominating Shade's BRNZ. Mister Wukong and Vasillas were the crowd favorite with their tag team on May Zedong and Brawnz Ni. Up next we have Beacon's team JNPR up against another team from Vacuo, the femme fatale team NDGO!"

The crowd cheered as both teams entered the ring. This was a bit overwhelming for Jaune, Nora, and Ren with the crowd cheering for them. Lucky Pyrrha was with them to assure some peace of mind. Nora nudged Ren to show a bunch of girls clamored together in the crowd with a pink streak in their hair like him. Awkwardly waving to his apparent fans he didn't know he had, he quickly turned away when one of them swooned.

"Let's have a good match." Jaune tried to be sportsmanly with the other team.

"Such a gentleman." Nebula said, looking him over. "Don't be too sore when we win."

Jaune made a mental note to apologize to Sun when they met. The monkey faunus was right when he said Vacuo students were arrogant and mean. Then again, maybe it was just this girl since the redhead on their team was giving him a 'call me' gesture. Glancing at Pyrrha, she had a pensive look on her face.

"And it looks like the stages have been set." Oobleck's voice cut in. "Wetland for JNPR… and the dessert for team NDGO!"

"Terrain advantage." Gwen high-fived Dew.

When the terrain was brought up, team JNPR could not believe what they were seeing. There was a waterfall behind them that flooded their side of the field and made a rainbow. Looking at how deep the water was, it was estimated to be ten feet deep by the looks of the corner. Then the giant lily pads floated up, along with a canoe.

Hearing the alert for the match to start, they had their guards up just in time to get out of the way of a fireball. The plan was for the four of them to stick close and overwhelm them as a group. But the plan soon fell apart when NDGO made a whirlwind that separated them. Luckily they didn't land out of the ring, but now they had to face each of them on their own.

As Jaune landed in the wetland field, he quickly swam to a lily pad and got on. The thing was able to support his weight and only sank a bit. Hearing a battlecry from above, he saw Nebula coming down at him with sword held high. Pulling out his tanto, he blocked the strike and nearly sank into the water from the hit. With both of them sinking on the lily pad, they jumped away to separate pads. Narrowly missing an arrow that almost got him in the cheek, Jaune turned around to see Nebula reloading a crossbow.

"Gotcha." She smirked, seeing he had no range weapon. When the blonde expanded Luminight and showed the quiver behind his shield, her smirk fell. "…oh."

With Pyrrha, she was high atop the dessert cliff after they got separated. Behind her, Octavia was knocked out quickly after she tried to sneak up on her. Scoping the fields, Jaune and Nebula were in a 1v1 match while Ren and Nora were separated in a sandstorm. Searching for the one creating the winds, Pyrrha found her high on a boulder with her other teammate scanning for the ninja and the bomber. When Gwen thought she saw something, she threw a knife into the storm in hopes of hitting one of Pyrrha's teammates.

"Not on my watch." The redhead's eyes narrowed, taking aim.

Taking the first shot, she cursed when the bullet curved. She misjudged the strength of the wind. Calculating once more, she took aim and fired a shot that knocked the staff out of Dew's hand. With the sandstorm slowly dying, Ren and Nora collected themselves and charged at the boulder. Gwen didn't make it easy for them, throwing knives to give Dew time to get her staff back. Once she did, she attempted to make another whirlwind but flinched when another bullet almost caught her staff. Pyrrha was not letting that happen.

"I got this, Dew. Go help Nebs." The knife thrower told her teammate.

Nodding, Dew ran to the wetlands where the two leaders were having an archery contest.

The once clear waters were now riddled with arrows floating and the two combatants jumping around to get to a floating leaf. There was no such thing as running out of arrows, since the two would recycle the ones just floating aimlessly. Nebula had an advantage with just having a trigger pull away, but Jaune's quick fire compensated. He was saving his lightning arrows for last since shooting the waters meant he'd get shocked too.

"Nebs, get on the boat!" Dew shouted, getting both of their attention. Moving around a lot to not get shot by Pyrrha, she started making waves in the water.

"Oh no." Jaune panicked, about to take a shot at the windmaker.

He lost his footing when the pad he was on started violently moving and spinning. Trying to stay focused he looked around to see the wetlands was now a rapids. The water may be ten feet deep, but they were in a large volume that made a lake. With him on a flimsy floating leaf and Nebula riding on a canoe, he was at a disadvantage. Finding his balance, he made a wild shot and aimed at the canoe. Nebula did the same as she aimed for him directly. When he released, she pulled her trigger and cheered when he jumped into the raging water to dodge. Her cheer was wasted though when she felt her canoe was capsizing. Looking over, she saw the arrow fired at her was coated in ice dust. The ice was quickly forming and unbalancing the canoe. Physics did the rest and she was in the raging waters too.

Splashing around she shouted for Dew to cut the wind, but she kept being pulled down. Looking for the blonde that fell in, she saw him spinning with the waters like her. Fighting to stay afloat, Nebula shouted loudly for her teammate to stop and was relieved when she was heard. Looking to Jaune, he was gone when the waters were finally calm. Wading over to a lily pad, she burnt a lot of energy trying to stay afloat.

"Hey! What the-!"

A splash was heard next as Dew was pulled into the waters by Jaune. The leader of JNPR then popped out of the water and got onto the dessert side soaking wet and clambering for an arrow in his quiver. Lying o his back he was exhausted and didn't care to the hot sand sticking to his back. Sparing Dew and Nebula one last look, he cracked the arrowhead on the water and let it go. The sounds of the two girls being electrocuted was heard, but he was busy looking to the other side where Ren and Nora were finishing Gwen Darcy. After Ren jumped out of a knife slash and Nora knocked the knife thrower on the head with her hammer, she was down for the count.

"And team JNPR wins the match!" Port announced. "Looks like they've gotten their teamwork down to a T."

"Indeed." Bart agreed, replaying Ren and Nora's team up with Pyrrha's long-range support and Jaune's one on one fight. "With team JNPR moving to the doubles round with the eight other teams, the audience can expect the next matches to be having them on the edges of their seats."

Still lying on the hot sand, Jaune sees someone giving him a hand up. Looking to the owner, it was Nebula. Taking the hand, he's pulled up fast and slapped hard on the back. He was feeling tired, but the cheering was putting him on a high. Waving to the crowd, he looked to where Pyrrha was and saw her looking down at them with a proud smile. She must have been used to it from her time in tournaments and was happy to share the feeling with them. When she started sliding down the mountain, he ran to meet her halfway. Catching her, he spun her around before putting her down.

They still had an agenda, but that didn't mean they couldn't enjoy the feeling of a good victory.

In the crowd, Cinder clapped slowly as she reviewed the replays on screen. Like team RWBY, JNPR improved vastly in ways she wasn't expecting. Looking down to the fools in the arena forging bonds and enjoying themselves, she smirked. It didn't matter how much strength they gained. In the end, they would play their parts in her plan. Watching the teams leaving, she got up to leave.

Passing the people still seated waiting for the next match, she ignored them and the announcements. They were all too predictable in what they were going to say and who would be coming next. And it had nothing to do with her little virus in the system. She could read them all just by looking at their stances and personalities. Those in the arena were the same – all except three. It didn't matter though. One or twenty, they would all fall because they were all the same children playing at heroes. Like all academies that nurture and spoon-feed, they shielded the students from true experience. She's looked at the promising and was disappointed. If that Arc child and Nikos girl were born in the battlefield, they may have been legends – if only.

 **With Weiss**

Applauding team JNPR's win over NDGO, the heiress felt a vibration in her pocket. Taking her scroll out, she scoffed seeing it was from her father. Rejecting the call, she turned the thing off and pocketed her phone once more. Feeling a bit thirsty, she got up to buy herself a drink. Excusing herself, she exited the coliseum to find a booth she found favorable. Ruby tagged along feeling like getting a drink herself. Scanning the area, her pupils widened when she spotted a familiar white airship docking in.

"She came." Weiss whispered, running to the ship with excitement. Just as she was close, she halted and remembered her appearance. Turning around, she was glad her partner was still with her. "Ruby, quick! How do I look?"

The little leader was unsure what she was asking. "Weiss, what's going on? Who is that?"

Shaking her head and ignoring her questions, Weiss went on. "Do I look clean enough? Am I sweating? Does it look like I'm sweating? What about my complexion? Does my-"

Hearing the hatches to the ship opening, Weiss stood straight with practiced composure forgetting to get an answer out of her partner. Seeing her silhouette before she stepped out, Weiss lost all manners of calm and dashed forward with excitement.

"Winter!" She called to her older sister. Meeting her as she was fully off her ship, Weiss halted with hands clasped together. "I was unaware you would be coming today."

"Apologies for not informing you beforehand, dear sister." The older Schnee replied with an air of professionalism and authority. "But I am here now. Tell me, how are you fairing?"

"Oh! I'm doing just fine actually." Weiss started to ramble. "Despite a few hiccups I'm still at the top of the class, my combat records are still perfect, and I-"

WHAP!

A tiny bump as now on the heiress' head from Winter's hand slapping her. Touching the lump, she winced and made a note to put some ice on it later. Pouting, she looked up to her sister with the unasked question of why in her eyes.

"I meant how are you outside of classes." Winter said specifically. "Have you made any friends? Are you eating right? Are your lodgings proper?"

Just as Weiss was about to speak, she was cut off. "No need to answer. Your appearance and company behind you tells me everything. I see you've received a slight tan from your time out of Vale. Looking at your cheeks, you've burnt off the excess baby fat. And from the looks of your arms and legs, you've gone through physical training."

Crud. Weiss was holding back all her pores from releasing all her nervous sweat. Gulping, she was steeling herself for another hit but flinched when she felt a firm hand on her shoulders. Staring at her sister straight in the eye, she saw pride in them.

"You've grown exceptionally well, Weiss." The younger Schnee didn't know if she was experiencing a minor heart attack, because she was sure her heart skipped a few beats. "I may have arrived late, but that doesn't mean I was unable to see your fight. A bit choppy by my standards, but effective all the same. No wasted movements, and efficiency above all else."

Weiss had to say something. If she kept this joy bottled up inside, she might just make a fool of herself and squeal. Remembering her partner behind her, she thought a proper introduction was in order.

"This is Ruby. My partner." She said, pulling Ruby forward. Her leader gave a simple hi, before she pushed the lump on her head down. Ignoring that, she went on. "I'm sure you saw her performance as well."

"Ah yes, the young leader you've wrote to me about." Winter nodded, looking at Ruby's appearance. In honesty, Winter thought she'd be a bit shorter but everything else was as she saw. "How… underwhelming."

"I've been told that and a few other things." Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose at Ruby's small vocabulary. Then again, she wonders if that was pride for being seen as such.

Ushering her away, Weiss wished to have a private time with her sister. She was glad her leader complied before zipping off to get herself a smoothie. Turning back to her sister, Weiss saw her with a neutral mask on. Now that her friend wasn't around, the nice gloves were off. Weiss knew Winter didn't want to make her feel ashamed in front of her friends. She was at least nice like that.

"Do you know a more reserved place we can talk?" The older Schnee asked. "I prefer to speak to you away from privy eyes and ears."

Weiss knew of a place. It was just a courtyard walk away and secluded enough for just two people. Guiding her sister, she felt like a prisoner on death row bringing her executioner to the chopping blocking. Winter even had her robot guards surrounding them. This was a long time coming really. Yang and Ruby shared they got the same talk in private with their uncle and dad when the whole team was out of earshot. If they could handle this, then she could too. Thoughts on the scolding she was about to receive, she was unaware to the sounds of destruction behind her.

"Hey." A familiar raspy voice called to them. Weiss never thought she'd be happy for a distraction. "Yeah. That's right. I'm talking to you, Ice Queen."

And there was that stupid nickname again. Turning around, Weiss saw Qrow wobbling drunk with finger pointed to her.

"Excuse me, Winter. I have to take this." Weiss pardoned, walking to the drunk. "Qrow. What are you doing here? And why-"

"Sssh. Not you Snowflake." The drunkard laughed, motioning Weiss aside while using her shoulder as something to lean on. Lifting a finger, he pointed to Winter. "Her."

Looking down to the broken androids before her and then to the lush, Winter's temper was slowly rising. Then seeing the drunken fool casually using her sweet and innocent little sister as a common leaning post, she felt a twitch in her eye. She had to calm down. Count to ten and not think about how Weiss was too close to that filthy, disease ridden, smelly, alcoholic –

"Weiss! Step away from that man!" And Winter's temper and composure was lost. Once her sister was away, she stomped towards Qrow. "That was Atlesian property you broke just now."

Looking at the tension between the man she's been training with for nearly a month and her sister who taught her nearly everything she knew about on combat, Weiss was conflicted. On one hand, Qrow has proven to be a dependent teacher despite his demeanor. On the other, Winter. Looking at the context of things, she had an idea why Qrow was picking a fight – but going after her sister wasn't the way! It was a poor choice since – oops, she was thinking too long. They were fighting now with a large crowd watching.

"Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow." And the whole time she was lost in thought, Ruby appeared by her side.

The whole time, Weiss stayed quiet but watched. Her older sister was still going to scold her later, but maybe she'd be less harsh after a good fight with someone strong.

Winter was moving with a grace and dexterity Weiss hoped to achieve. Looking at her parry and use her glyphs, the heiress' match was like an amateur hour compared to what was happening in front of her. Qrow went in with a few quick slices to feel her out, but Winter wasn't showing him all her tricks yet. Only one glyph was used during the fight, and she had a lot more to use.

Seeing Qrow spinning to give a heavy swing, the older Schnee intercepted with her pommel smashing into his cheek. The crowd winced from the cracking sound but Qrow took it like a champ. Smirking, he dashed back to gain some distance and used the gun on his sword. Dodging the bullet by a hair, Winter's eyes narrowed as she jumped back onto a beam and taunted him to try and shoot her down. Each bullet Qrow shot missed, but brought her closer to him. Leaping into the air, Winter pulled out her second sword and proceeded to challenge Qrow once more in close combat.

With Qrow's large weapon, blocking was easy but Winter's weapons had a way of passing through his guard. Getting tired of the whole blocking and dodging game, he kicked her in the gut and sent her skidding back and onto her bum. He may have used his semblance to get her off balance, but the look on her face was priceless. And judging from the laughter from the crowd, they thought so too. Spying Ruby and Weiss in the crowd, he winked seeing his niece clapping for him and the little Schnee looking horrified.

"You'll regret that." Winter seethed, getting up and dusting her backside. Looking to her sister's face, she felt her blood pressure rise higher.

This lout breaks expensive Atlas equipment, touches her sister with his filthy hands, challenges her to a fight, attempts to humiliate her in front of the people of Vale, and he left a boot print on her uniform. She could overlook a few of those things. But the one thing she will pay him back for tenfold – making her look bad in front of Weiss. The only look her little sister should have when her eyes are on her should be awe and inspiration!

Stabbing her weapon into the ground, she made a large glyph that should impress her sister and put this mutt in his place. For the sake of the audience though, she'd make the summons small. Three Ursae should be enough not to make them panic too much – it was a combat school after all.

"Grimm!" A few shouted, running away from the fight once they saw her bluish white summons in all their glory.

"So cool!" Ruby squealed in awe seeing something new. Looking at Weiss, she had something to ask. "Can you do that?"

After Qrow killed the Grimm summons with ease, he waved a finger to Winter to bring more. He was about to shift his sword into another weapon, but he stopped midway and just put it behind him with hands behind his back like he won. Looking at her sister and how dejected she looked and then to Qrow, she had enough. She was going to ram her sword straight through his eye! Charging a glyph, she made it thrust her forward with blade ready to stab him. She will have retribution.

"Schnee!"

A centimeter from his eye and the mutt looked so smug. Reigning her anger, she stood straight and turned around with a salute. The headmaster of Beacon and General Ironwood were walking towards them with Glynda closely behind. Casting a quick glance to her sister, she hardened her heart seeing she was worried for her. Told to stand down, she soon followed the general to the tower while Qrow stayed behind.

"Uncle Qrow." Ruby charged at her uncle, attempting to get him with a mock kick. When he sidestepped out of the way and got her in a noogie.

"Short stack." He replied, still not letting her go. Clicking his teeth, he rubbed her head once more before releasing her. "Nice try, but you're still a hundred years too early to beat me."

"Why are you here?" Weiss asked after uncle niece finished greeting one another. "We thought you'd be going out of Vale when we left."

Before Qrow could answer, Ozpin called him while Glynda finished repairing the damages. Turning back to the two, he shrugged. "We'll chat later. You guys are partially involved in this."

That wasn't news to the two. Their whole team and JNPR knew they were involved if the data they gathered said so. With the commotion over and nothing left to do, they made their way back to their dorm. At their door, Weiss remembered Ruby was gone for some time before Qrow and Winter fought.

"By the way Ruby. Where did you head off to?" the heiress asked, opening their door.

"Salutations!" Penny surprised her as she stood on the other side of the door. In their dorm. With Blake and Yang ignoring her.

Turning to her leader trying to act innocent, Weiss' eyes were half-lidded and had one message. Explain.

 **END**

 **AN: Winter has finally arrived. I kept going over how I'd make the fight different, but I really liked how it went in canon. With Qrow and Weiss knowing each other more though, I think Winter would be a bit angry her sister was in 'bad company.' Regarding the changes in team RWBY and JNPR, some of it hasn't been fully shown yet. But lets go over a rundown.**

 **Ruby – Learnt how to be a kicker.**

 **Yang – Short hair and a smarter berzerker.**

 **Weiss – Not shown yet**

 **Blake – Not shown yet**

 **Jaune – Archer and unlocked semblance**

 **Pyrrha – Not yet shown**

 **Nora – Not yet shown**

 **Ren – Not yet shown**

 **Next chapter. The doubles matches. Also, secrets and recruitments along with other stuff. Hope you enjoyed. Next update is Fragments.**


	24. Summary End

**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY**

 **AN: Hey fans and followers. I know it's been a while since I updated anything. The sad truth is that I'm getting tired of RWBY. I know "Aloe, how could you?!" I'm sorry, but it's like the thing that made it all exciting is gone. I spun my ideas with close friends and others online and they asked me why I'm using characters that already exist to make a story when some of the stuff I don't put in these fics are good for an original story.**

 **You guys have been a great fandom, and I'm not going to leave you guys hanging with the question "How does it end, then?" So this chapter will summarize everything from chapter to chapter.**

 **RWBY + J**

 **VYTAL FESTIVAL FINALS**

The chapters starts with Jaune and Pyrrha winning their duo match against some OCs. With their match out of the way, the two just wait for the friends' match. Yang and Blake are soon called up against Neon and Flynt. The pair chosen is no surprise to Cinder's group thinking Yang will be the one entering the finals. With Blake by Yang's side to take on Neon with a level mind, the match is one sided with Yang finishing the trumpet user and Blake catching Neon in her ribbon. After that, it's Emerald and Mercury beating down Coco and Yatsuhashi with the mint haired girl taking pleasure in beating the leader of CFVY down. While that was going on, Pyrrha was called in to Ozpin's office where Amber is revealed to her. With the choice to become the new Maiden and the fact she has to watch her boyfriend step into unknown danger, the champion is feeling stressed. When Jaune finds her alone in the halls, she wants to share what she found out with him but ends up talking about destiny. Non-directly asking if she should be the maiden, Jaune's answer is for her to do what she thinks is right just like how he thinks what he thinks is right too. Instead of pushing him away, Pyrrha grabs him by the hand and pulls him to their dorm. She's made up her mind to be the next Fall Maiden – and if she ends up losing herself, she wants to at least have a good memory of making love with her first and possibly last boyfriend.

Word gets around when Nora and Ren spotted them, and soon all their friends know they did the raunchy dance. Yang even jokes of how Pyrrha made a super obvious love mark on Jaune's neck. It's all short lived when finals come up and Jaune and Blake have to line up with the others. Cinder is a bit disgruntled her initial plan didn't fall through, but she had a contingency plan lined up for _everyone._ The first final match starts with Jaune against Sun. The two blondes share a smile and agree to keep things moderately fair. The archer is taking his fight seriously and Sun makes a few quips in between for his friend to 'calm down' and 'take it easy.' They're evenly matched until Sun is backed to the edge at knifepoint, then Jaune is tackled to the ground by Atlesian droids. Asking Sun for help, the monkey faunus is looking at him with fear. Turning to the screen, Jaune is shocked to see a different view of the fight.

Emerald casted an illusion making it seem as though Jaune went crazy and was trying to murder Sun with his knife. The crowd is shocked and Jaune is soon escorted protesting his innocence with Pyrrha and his friends following him. The next day, team RWBY and JNPR minus Jaune are huddled together trying to piece what happened. Most of them don't believe Jaune did that, but they were under the illusion too. When Blake makes a comment to Jaune possibly relapsing to when he fought Banesaw, Pyrrha shouts at her for thinking that her boyfriend was crazy and shoots out logical points of how the professionals deemed him sane. Ironwood enters the dorms and informs team JNPR their leader is put in their custody for the safety of everyone. When they all ask if they can see him, they are refused. After he leaves, Sun enters the room but is cautious seeing Pyrrha glaring at him. He tries to explain what he saw from his perspective, but none from team JNPR want to hear it. Luckily, Weiss is the most level headed at the moment and was busy rewatching the clip. Looking back on the video, she pauses and zooms in on Jaune to show them all something – the hickey on his neck was gone. The screens that showed the fights are made for high definition and some of the hits and dirt marks Sun gave Jaune were highly noticeable. It was small, but it gave the group some hope that their friend was innocent.

Blake's match soon comes up and she is put up against Mercury. The gray haired kicker tries to get under her skin with bad flirting but she only retaliates weakly. Jaune being taken away put warning bells in her head that her losing her cool could put her in danger. When she let her guard down, Mercury pulls the bow off her head showing she's a faunus to the whole crowd. Trying to cover her cat ears, Cinder puts herself on the screen showing Blake's history. She comments on Beacon letting untrained students like Jaune enter their school where they have a chance to turn insane and how Ozpin lets terrorists like Blake walk with their students. Then schematics of Penny are shown putting Atlas in the spotlight. All the negativity pushes the people on edge that Grimm start swarming.

 **BATTLE FOR BEACON**

With Blake still in the center of the ring, she gives chase to Mercury who is running away. Grimm soon start swarming the stadium with civilians running away. When a Nevermore and Gryphon try to break the barrier down, all students summon their weapon lockers and ready themselves. When the barrier broke, bullets and dust lit up the sky. Oobleck and Port assign students to escort the remaining civilians to safety and for the rest to hold ground. Ruby and the others are sent out to keep the transports safe until the White Fang arrive with more Grimm. Civilians are urged back to the stadium where they'd be more safe and out of the way as the hunters outside deal with the terrorists.

Up in the sky, Neo infiltrates the ship where Jaune and Roman are being held. Roman is disappointed Jaune and his friends failed to stop Cinder, but knew that chances of that happening were slim. When Jaune questions why waste his time on that idea, Roman's answer was contingencies. He makes an offer for Jaune to join them, but the blonde refuses and tries to fight Roman for control of the ship. Roman plugs in the virus for the robots, then Jaune pulls it out and smashes it but is too late to stop it from wrecking most of Beacon. Annoyed, the master criminal asks Neo to toss their extra baggage out while he takes aim at Beacon and the stadium. Instead of doing as she is told, Neo pushes both men out of the way and tries to commandeer the ship. This surprises them both and it soon turns into a free for all with Jaune losing. The fighting is paused when they hear the Grimm dragon waking up and bringing in more Grimm. It turns into a two on one once more when Roman and Neo agree to try and flee on the ship while Jaune wants to use the ship to kill the dragon.

The plan to flee doesn't work when Ruby appears on top of the ship. Neo and Roman use Jaune as a hostage but like canon, Roman is eaten and Neo is sent flying like Mary Poppins. Before Jaune leaves, he tries to see if he can find the weapons on the ship to shoot the dragon but ends up accidentally firing on the ship itself (oops) and a few Grimm down below. With the ship now crashing, Ruby pulls Jaune off and they land back down in time to see the dragon circling Beacon with everyone down below hurt. Yang lost an arm, Blake is bleeding from her torso, Weiss is tending to them, and Ren and Nora are badly bruised and exhausted with Ren's weapon almost broken. Ruby is soon behind Weiss to guard her from the Grimm coming their way. Seeing Pyrrha in front of the school, Jaune runs to her and asks her the situation. When they see Cinder flying to the top with the dragon landing on the tower, the couple share a look.

Pyrrha tries to push Jaune away but there isn't enough metal on him. She agrees to let him help her fight Cinder. Before he follows her, Jaune leaves Ren the tanto to use in case any Grimm get close. The ninja weakly protests for Jaune and Pyrrha not to go but they do. As the couple hold hands and head up to fight Cinder, Jaune readies his semblance.

When they reach the top, Jaune fires a lightning arrow that catches the dragon in the eye with the help of Pyrrha's polarity. It flies away in pain, and it's Cinder against the two. An epic fight on the tower ensues with Jaune giving cover and distraction for Pyrrha to land hits on Cinder, but it soon goes downhill when the villain takes aim away from Pyrrha to put down the annoyance. Cinder tries to outshoot Jaune but is surprised when the arrow is deflected back towards her at a faster speed. Jaune reveals his semblance to be reflection.

Cinder was able to dodge her arrow but it cuts her on the cheek. Annoyed with the blonde, she targets him more than Pyrrha and finds out his flaw. Shooting fire at him, she smirks when he deflects it back at her only for nothing to happen. Now low on aura and unable to use his semblance, Jaune stands before Cinder with fists ready to fight her to the last breath. Then his arrows start glowing black and float out of his quiver. Pyrrha reminds Cinder she is still there and tries to swarm her with arrows and debris. Jaune joins in by using his bow to hit the villainess but is pushed back. Now frustrated, Cinder creates a giant pillar of fire that is seen from below catching Ruby and Weiss' attention. The two soon try to make their way to the tower.

Pyrrha and Jaune are hurt, but the remaining aura they had shielded them from being burnt to a crisp. Cinder picks the champion off the floor and tosses her to Jaune. Firing an arrow, she gets Pyrrha in the ankle and fires more getting Jaune through the shoulder. Pyrrha tries to pull the arrow out of him, but she's shot in her other leg with another arrow shooting Jaune in the torso. Trying to pull her shield up to block any more arrows coming their way, Cinder walks toward them and yanks it away. Jaune manages to yank the arrow in his torso out and attempts to stab Cinder with it, but an arrow is fired into Pyrrha's chest.

Forgetting about Cinder, Jaune holds on to Pyrrha and tries to pull the arrow out of her but it disintegrates. As Jaune holds onto Pyrrha as she slowly turns to ash in his arms, he and Cinder don't notice Ruby reaching the top. Upon seeing Pyrrha turning to dust and Cinder about to shoot Jaune, Ruby shouts and uses her silver eyes not only on Cinder but also on Jaune by accident.

Ruby wakes up in her room and Qrow is there with Taiyang. The uncle explains everything that happened along with how Yang is doing. Weiss is taken to Atlas, Blake is MIA, and Ren and Nora made it out okay. When she asks about Jaune and Pyrrha hoping what she saw wasn't true, Qrow presented her Pyrrha's headpiece and her broken shield and weapon – it was all they could find. When the reaper asked where her first friend of Beacon was, Qrow shook his head saying it wasn't her fault.

Ren and Nora were in the same room looking at their leader lie motionless on the couch of Taiyang's home. He was alive and breathing, but he was like stone. All color was gone from him and he was gray like a statue. There were signs of color coming back, but it was slow. When Ruby came to see him, she was on her knees at Nora and Ren's feet crying for forgiveness. Nora didn't put the blame on her, and just hugged the girl as both of them cried. All the while, Ren was stone faced. Qrow entered the room with Taiyang to check on Jaune. The older blonde put a hand on the frozen boy and passed a bit of aura through him. More color returned to Jaune's form, but he was still unconscious. After the dad left, Qrow got down to business sharing info on Ozpin's death and of traveling to Haven.

Ruby was unsure whether to go so soon without Jaune or Yang, but Ren was quick to answer for them to go as quick as they could. Gathering all that they could, the three went out but stopped when Sun jumped in front of them. He explained Blake catching him following her the night she ran from them. She didn't explain much, but she begged him to stay with her team and help them in any way he could. Since he couldn't follow Weiss, he stuck around with them and overheard everything about going to Haven. Since he's done missions in Haven, he volunteered to guide them there boasting he knew the place like the back of his hand. And so the group headed off to Haven with Qrow watching them.

Inside the house, Taiyang was surprised to see his youngest daughter gone. Yang was staring out the window looking at a large black bird. When it flew off, her dad barged into her room in a panic. She said she knew Ruby was off to Haven, but her dad shook her head. Jaune's body was gone too. Looking back to the window with wide eyes, Yang muttered one name.

"Raven."

 **RNJR Minus J**

Ruby and her new team are headed to Haven following the path Sun knows. It's a lot easier, plus they help villages in need from Grimm and bandits. But there's some inner turmoil with how Ren keeps distancing himself from everyone including Nora. Ruby thinks he blames her for everything, and she doesn't blame him while Sun is trying to just be the peacekeeper between everyone. As for Nora, she took some upgrades to her weaponry and added something new – Pyrrha's shield. It was too broke to make it like it's original form, but she made it collapsible like Jaune's only disc-like. (imagine Viking Kratos' shield) Ren also replaced one of his blades with the red tanto Jaune gave him. The group have been traveling for months, but Haven was still far away.

On Blake's side, without Sun to help her combat the water dragon, her ship was marooned before she could make it to Menagerie. With civilians and a captain to look after, they sail to whatever land is close while trying to survive and call for help. In the end, she makes it to Menagerie and just in time to catch her parents in a conversation with the White Fang.

Yang and Weiss still follow canon, only with Yang now trying to get to Raven for more than one reason. Weiss still crashes and gets caught by Raven's tribe and Yang finds her in place of Jaune. When the brawler asks for the whereabouts of the blonde boy, Raven answers she doesn't know neither cares.

Turning back a few months to when Raven kidnapped Jaune, it started in a tent where the leader of the bandit tribe forced aura into Jaune to wake him up. He was revived screaming and writhing in pain while clutching his head. Taiyang was giving small doses to ease him into consciousness, but Raven didn't have time to coddle. After having him calmed down, she had him treated and fed. She offered him a place in her tribe but he was unable to speak besides making raspy tones and grunts. In his eyes, he was unsure of where he was and who he was with.

"Seems he forgot himself." Raven told her daughter. "I didn't have time for an amnesiac so I dropped him back in Patch."

It didn't make sense to Yang though since if she did drop her friend in Patch, then her dad or her would've seen him.

 **Broken Reflection**

With Jaune, he is seen walking through the forests of Patch where he and his friends went camping. His head kept pulsing and he kept receiving images that made his eyes water and heart ache. Reaching an unfinished cabin, his eyes landed on a sword stuck in a stump – Crocea Mors. As more images flooded into his mind, Grimm were swarming to him. Still unable to talk but knowing the Grimm were bad, muscle memory and instinct were the only things keeping him alive but it still wasn't enough to keep the Grimm away. Desperate, he grabbed the hilt of the blade and kept trying to pull it out. As he kept trying, more images flooding his mind this time of Taiyang and all he learnt about aura.

With some of his memory on aura returned, Jaune was able to pull his sword out and kill the Grimm with ease. There were still holes in his mind but memories of how to fight Grimm with aura were recovered. There were memories of people walking and laughing with him, but for the life of him he couldn't remember them. There was also some place like a school. He could remember the name – Beacon. Hearing some shuffling inside the unfinished cabin, Jaune went to look inside and found a colorful looking girl - Neo. The blonde had some memory of her, but it was all still fuzzy. Every time he thought of people there was a hole like a face was being blurred out in the group. All he knew was that the more he tried to fix the blur, the more his heart ached and the more he tore up.

Neo sees Jaune and immediately attacks him. It does little to no good since she's starving, sad, and lost the drive to do anything. All she does is hold on to him and cry. She was lucky enough to save the picture of this place Jaune sent to her or she wouldn't have teleported to safety. Seeing the lost look in his eyes, she asked if he remembered her through her scroll. He was in the same condition as her being hungry and unable to speak and had to communicate the same way. When she asked if he remembered what happened to Beacon, his response was that he wanted to go there. Neo shook her head, typing him that the place was now too dangerous.

Still urging her to bring him there, Neo relents and teleports them to the front of Beacon where Grimm are roaming. The images in Jaune's head go crazy being back where all the pain started. His semblance was repressing all the pain and anything that connected to it was pushed back. Jaune was fighting with his semblance now as he had to fight Grimm coming his way and jumping from reality and memory. His feet were taking him somewhere and he had to fight Grimm in his way to get there. In the background, Neo was also helping him by keeping Grimm away.

Passing what remained of the cafeteria Jaune remembered his talks with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Ren, and Nora. There was another blurry figure but he couldn't see who it was. Passing the broken gym, he remembered training with Blake and Yang but there was another figure he'd run around and laugh with. Going into the burnt library he remembered Blake and Weiss tutoring him, and again there was a blurry someone he'd sit with. He was remembering his friends with each step he took, but there was someone he was forgetting – someone his semblance didn't want him to remember.

Reaching the dorms, there was almost nothing left of it. The nameplate was on the floor and Jaune saw his old team name, JNPR. Walking in, he felt another memory a bit more fresh. There was the feeling of someone's skin, the smell of sweetness in the air, and a laugh that made his heart flutter. There was a drawer that was scratched, but it wasn't that bad. Opening it, he saw an album titled 'JNPR Scrapbook.' Opening it, Jaune saw tons of pictures but when his eyes saw the picture of him and Pyrrha standing together all of his memories returned. Looking to Neo, she was pushing Grimm back with her parasol while they were in a small room.

 **Reconciliation**

Back to RRSN (Raisin – Nora and Ruby hate this name) or RRNS (Rinse), the team end up having a heart to heart after running into Tyrian. Qrow gets into a shouting match with Ren comparing them both. Qrow comes clean he drinks because if he doesn't he becomes like Ren – distant, afraid to get hurt, and always bottling up the pain without a semblance to hide it. Qrow is still poisoned and the group try to make to Haven as quick as possible. Ruby and Sun confide in one another leader to leader of how bad things are, and they end up fighting the Nuckelavee.

This is where Ren gets unhinged and takes out all his frustrations on the Grimm that murdered his parents and gave him nightmares. With the help of his friends, they manage to kill it but Ren's anger is not sated. Nora tries her best to get him to open up to her again, but his mind is still set on getting revenge. The Nuckelavee was only one off his list – Cinder was next. Like canon, help comes in time to get Qrow an antidote. Ruby writes a letter to home, and it shows Yang is still in Raven's camp with Weiss trying to get all the answers.

Unlike canon, Yang and Weiss are willing to hear what Raven has to say about Ozpin and his faction. They learn everything about Maidens, the powers/curse Ozpin could give, and of the secret war with Salem. By the time Yang and Weiss leave to meet with Ruby, they don't fully trust Raven but they're willing to see what connects.

On Blake's efforts, she manages to capture Ilia without Sun present to get injured. By showing compassion and reason, the cat faunus is able to get through to Ilia of how the White Fang turning violent is wrong. She apologizes to her friend for not seeing her feelings, for being blinded by Adam, and for not knowing how she feels about her. In the end, Ilia is not petty and just wants to be a part of Blake's life again. The two make up and Blake gains all Ilia knows on what the Fang is really up to. With her aid, she is able to rat out Fennec and his brother and amass all of Menagerie to head to Haven.

 **Reunion**

Oscar appears to drunk Qrow and team RRNS is shocked Ozpin is in a young boy's body (I know it sounds wrong but I cant really say controlling.) Weiss and Yang arrive and the group tries to be cheery despite all that they lost. Sun brings up Blake to the group, but Yang turns a blind ear. When Ruby accidentally slips Jaune and Pyrrha's name during a story the whole group gets quiet. When Nora asks Yang how their leader was recovering before she left, Yang words it wrong and team RRSN jump to conclusions that Jaune is dead. When Yang explains it better, Ren is furious and wants Raven's head. It surprises Weiss to see the ninja so emotional but not Yang or the others.

Later when everyone is asleep, Yang pulls Ren aside to share things Raven told her and Weiss about. The brawler is still unsure who to trust amongst the adults, but hearing how Ozpin is sort of immortal has put Yang on edge. Ren is still a bit mad, but he can see the logic behind her words. When they hear glass shattering, the two run out to see what made the noise and are frozen to see Jaune and Neo with Glynda Goodwitch looking lost in the streets. Yang is the first to recover and tackles her fellow blonde to the ground. Glynda greets the two and excuses herself inside to give them a moment.

When Ren recovers, he's on his knees at his leader's side poking and patting him to see if he was real. When he does see it isn't a dream, he holds onto Jaune tight and sheds tears he's held for so long. The ninja brings him and Neo into their temporary abode where Jaune tries to retell what happened after he regained his memories.

 **Retelling**

Jaune and Neo were stuck in the ruined room ready to fight their way out when all the Grimm were lifted into the air and thrown far away. Peeking to see what was going on, the two saw Glynda coming their way. Grabbing Neo's hand, he pointed to Glynda and then out the window. Neo didn't know what he meant since his hand signs were too vague. In the end, Neo just took the to blondes with her and teleported back to the campsite in Patch. Glynda tried to talk to Jaune but he was still unable to speak. While he recovered his vocal chords, it was a hassle trying to get things done like getting a new bow, asking Glynda things about Beacon, and trying to get Neo to understand his hand gestures. By the time he could talk, he noticed his voice was a bit deeper.

In the end, Jaune asked Glynda everything of what was the power Cinder used, if Pyrrha was involved, and why did it have to be Pyrrha instead of her. Glynda's answer to Pyrrha was that it had to be someone strong, reliable, and young. Anyone older would not do. After that, Neo had to spill some secrets. She wasn't that cooperative, but when Jaune put all the wrong on Cinder and her crew, she gave up some parts related to the pyromaniac. It went in line with whatever Glynda shared so the next thing was going straight to Haven. Unfortunately, Neo has never been to the academy and Glynda had no picture to help her. The next solution was to either hijack a carrier (which Glynda forbade) or find magazines that had the latest pictures of Mistral. What happened next was a lot of hopping with Neo needing a few breaks since getting a current shot of Haven was harder than they thought.

By the end of the story, the two were just glad to have Jaune back with them, but unsure on where the two with him stood. Glynda was close to Ozpin like Qrow was, and Neo had her own agenda; but was it in line with theirs? Those questions were put aside when Nora and Ruby came down and saw the blonde knight was back.

 **Rematch**

Following canon once more where Raven brings Cinder to Haven and Lionheart betrays them. Sun is in rage too once he realizes that his team is probably dead because of the headmaster and tries to attack him with Oscar. Jaune with Neo fight Cinder then are joined by Ren and Nora after Hazel goes after Ozpin/Oscar. With Glynda helping, the fight is in favor of Ruby's friends until Cinder fatally wounds the former disciplinarian. Ruby uses her silver eyes once more for a brief moment and hurts Cinder. Ren and Jaune are by Glynda's side trying to help her, but the most they can do is heal the wound with their aura. She is still alive but unconscious. Outside, the White Fang are going to attack but Blake and her army appear.

Lionheart opens the way to the relic and Cinder along with Vernal, Raven, and Yang jump down. Canon fight with Raven and Cinder after Vernal dies with Raven revealing she is the Spring Maiden. Cinder is frozen and falls to her presumable death, and Yang takes the relic. When Raven asks her what she plans to do, Yang responds to get away from both her _and_ Ozpin.

"I hate to say it, but you're right." Yang grips the relic tight. "Ozpin can't be trusted. He's lied to us too many times. Pyrrha was told only someone young could be the Maiden but here you are wielding that power. It could've been Glynda but she was lied to by the same man. And that guy up there, Hazel. He's a product of Ozpin using someone again. He's using all of us."

"So what's next?" Raven asks her daughter.

"I'm not running scared like you." Yang walked back to the lift with relic in hand. "But I'm not letting any of them have this or any other relic."

Raven was starting to feel pride for her daughter. When the brawler went up, Raven was gone.

When Yang got back to the others, she wasn't expecting to see Blake with an army behind her. Looking to Ren and Jaune, the two caught her give a twitch of the eye and a nudge that got them to nod. Oscar was back, but he was tired. Yang offered to hold the relic and went to reunite with her whole team. The night was won and it was time to rest. It took a lot, but the group got Qrow piss drunk enough to pass out and Oscar was sound asleep.

Explaining things to Blake, she agreed with her friends and took them with her on the transports Menagerie brought. Glynda was added with them since she was as much a victim as they were. As for Qrow, Yang had to explain to Ruby he was too loyal to Ozpin. Blake offered to take them all to Menagerie, but the group decide against it since it might be the first place their enemies would look.

For now they had a ship, a crew, and a relic. Glynda might have an idea who the other Maidens were, and if she did then they could find them and offer them safety in numbers without having to collect the other relics. And if it was too late, then they'd just take the relics before anyone else could and find another place to hide them.

"Wait, so does this mean we're pirates now?" Nora asked

"Yar. I'm here to plunder booty." Jaune ran the joke with her. The ginger really missed her leader/father figure.

"Keep talking to me in that deep voice and I'll let you plunder Blake's booty." Yang quipped. She didn't miss the annoyed glare Neo gave or her partner's blush. The brawler had her suspicions with Blake but Neo was a new development.

"Excuse me?!" Daddy Belladonna piped in.

The ship became a bit more noisier as the heroes of Remnant made their way to wherever the ship took them.

 **END**

 **AN: I'll see if I can post the summary for Fragments up later. There was the Sun Gaiden, and then the story put together Crystal Core. I do feel bad I lost interest, but I think it's more of me transitioning to creating my own stuff. So yeah. Graduation in more than one way. You guys have been awesome fans.**


End file.
